Just finished reading Shaw's Pygmalion and Loewe's My Fair Lady. And I have decided that, though Higgins and Eliza certainly are not in love in Pygmalion, they are in My Fair Lady.

After Pygmalion, Shaw narrates a whole epilogue about Eliza and Higgins and Pickeirng and Freddy's futures. Eliza and Freddy get married, blah blah blah, and at the end Shaw says, "Galatea never does quite like Pygmalion: his relation to her is too godlike to be altogether agreeable."

Okay yes, the two are not in love in Pygmalion... or so Shaw says... but in My Fair Lady, Loewe writes a Note before the text: "I have ommitted [Shaw's epilogue] because in it Shaw explains how Eliza ends not with Higgins but with Freddy and - Shaw and Heaven forgive me!- I am not certain he is right."

Loewe thought they were in love...

But I think Shaw thought even Higgins was in love with Eliza (and I think he certainly thought Eliza loved him) because of some letter I read that were written between Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell, with whom he had an affair. Higgins uses a lot of the same phrases to describe Eliza as Shaw used to describe Mrs. Campbell. She actually even ended up playing Eliza. and something about Shaw's and Campbell's frustrated relationship echoes Higgins' and Eliza's frustrated relationship. therefore, I think Shaw made Eliza marry a simpleton thouhg Higgins was obviously the better match because Shaw was upset that Campbell married a simpleton, though Shaw was obviously her better match.

Thoughts?

I think Salome is going to kick your butt! LOL!

I have to disagree with you on this one, but not entirely. It is a love story, but not a conventional kind of love...I will go into more detail when I have the time...

But yes...my thoughts are that Salome will kick your butt!

I know she'll get up in arms about this topic. That's why I added the "mwahaha!"

And I bet she'll prove me wrong, too. Oh well!

I will indeed prove you wrong when i have time..and LOewes opinion doesnt matter he isnt Shaw or Lerner all he did was right the music. lol.

If you think its al ove story be prepared ot have your director beat you soundly if you get Eliza. (if the drector knows their ---- that is. lol).

Preach it, Sista'! LOL!

(MaryMag...You knew this was comin'! )

first off look at Higgins..he is the Shavian version of Sherlock Homes..the love of intellect appeals to him. yes..he has blocked romantic love out of his life..but all the same he has no need for it. He operates on a purely intellectual plane. and Eliza does indeed evoke emotions in him but its more the discovery of being close to another human being...than romantic love. he have found her to be a close freind,he has "learned something from her idiotic notions' as he puts it. and what he has learned is that he can feel free to treat humanity better..that he is capable of letting down his defenses and showing emotion. but this has nothing to do with the fact that he is "in love" with Liza Doolittle.

I think there are more than a few moments that best describe the relationship between Higgins and Eliza...In fact, the last scene between Higgins and Eliza does a pretty good job...And all of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"...

Here's a few (I will add more when I'm not being naughty at work! LOL!): The speech between Eliza and Higgins where Higgins asks her if she's looking for someone to be desperately in love with her:

(I'm doing this from memory, so excuse me if I'm a bit off)
Eliza: That's not the sort of feeling I want from you! I want a little kindness. I know I'm a common, ignorant girl and you a book learned gentleman, but I'm not dirt under your feet! What I done...What I DID was not for the dresses and the taxis! It was because we were pleasant together and I come...CAME...to care for you. Not to want you to make love to me and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like...

SO SHE EVEN DEFINES THEIR RELATIONSHIP AS A MORE FRIENDLY AFFAIR...Not romantic at all!

And the reason Higgins gets pissed every time she mentions Freddy is because that's the beginning of the realization that he may lose her...but not in a romantic way, hence the entire song of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"...The song is not entitled "I Love Her and Now She's Gone and My Life is Empty"...

And when she comes back, he asks her where his slippers are and sits back in his chair. He doesn't run up to give her a hug or kiss or show any excited reaction of any kind...He's "a confirmed old bachelor and likely to remain one"...

To be in love with Eliza would be totally out of the question, as he still very much likes to play by his own rules and will continue to do so no matter what...(Hence MANY of the songs against marriage/dealing with women that he sings!)

She doesn't especially come off as someone who would want to get married, either...There are other things I would like to detail regarding this, but I'm about to get in trouble! LOL! I will continue later...

So have you auditioned yet, MaryMag? And I never got a response to what I wrote above! Did you, perhaps...CHANGE YOUR MIND?!

BWAH HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

I remember flipping through one of the underclassman's literature books and finding the play, and in the end, there's a little epilogue that says something about Eliza marrying Freddy. I believe they were poor as church mice...then again, I was really tired when I read it, so I wasn't pay a whole lot of attention.

The change in the story is not inbetween pygmalian and my fair lady. It is between the stage and film versions of pygmailian. Both of whitch were written by shaw.

This was no question. Both Shaw's Pygmalion and My Fair Lady are love storys although Eliza and Higgins aren't in love.

The same could be said of just about any musical/dramatic piece then because anytime you are dealing with any relationship, there's always an element of "love"...You can have love for a friend, a sibling, a colleague, etc...

But you are absolutely right...Eliza and Higgins were not IN love...there's a difference...