Like many good stories, “My Fair Lady” begins with a bet. Linguistics professor Henry Higgins bets his colleague, Colonel Pickering, that his speech lessons can turn a poor Londoner into a real lady.

After months of relentless work, they almost give up before Eliza Doolittle learns to pronounce words the way Higgins has taught her. The celebratory dance around the study leaves her wanting more.

Eliza Doolittle becomes an elegant lady with the memorable song, “I Could Have Danced All Night.” As played by Gail Bennett at the Ogunquit Playhouse, her vocal range is vast, from the casual way the song is introduced to the formal way she pronounces the “A” in danced, like in the word “dawn.” The song finishes with a flourish at front and center stage, and the audience begins to applaud well before she finishes the last long, high note.

It is this song that guests at the Ogunquit Playhouse whistle and sing under the stars of the gazebo courtyard during the intermission between the play’s two acts. “My Fair Lady” runs through Sept. 6, with the support of an American Masterpiece Grant from the Maine Arts Commission.

The image of the transformed Eliza Doolittle burns on the mind, sparkling in the spotlight like a bride in her white ball gown covered in diamonds. At the fairy tale dance that follows, her new way of speaking fools another linguist into believing she is a princess.  

Doolittle, an indigent flower vendor, first arrives at the stately home of Professor Higgins (Jefferson Mays) in a suit jacket with unraveling threads like fluorescent silly string. Her appearance clashes with the impressive set, which has a chandelier, draped velvet and a staircase overlooking the room. At first, Eliza wipes her nose on her jacket sleeve, bites her nails through fingerless gloves and expresses herself with crude noises. This is the girl that the pragmatic professor would attempt to transform in a matter of months.

Higgins, who can guess a person’s origins by the sound of her voice, determines that Doolittle is a Cockney Londoner. He insults her for not using the Queen’s English, but it’s not personal. He wishes everyone would better appreciate the language.
After he casually departs, Eliza sings a wistful number about being in the care of a warm and wealthy man in “Wouldn’t It Be Lovely.” She ends up parting with some of the money she earned to buy her father and his friends another round at the pub.

Her father, Alfred Doolittle (Timothy Jerome), is a happy drunk with a scratchy voice who is careless with women and would sell his daughter for five pounds. Jerome, an expressive and charismatic actor, adds lightheartedness to the play. His character even hits on the housekeeper before leaving the Higgins household. He sings about how he can get by “With a Little Bit of Luck,” and ends up having a great deal of it. 

At the Embassy Ball, Eliza is so well-received that Higgins is congratulated at home for his achievement. But everyone fails to give Eliza any credit for the transformation, and the relationship falters when Eliza becomes emotional and is unable to communicate the problem, while Higgins tries to be reasonable but is insensitive.

As Higgins, 2004 Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays shines in manic songs that are alternately slow and fast, one about the consequences of letting a woman in your life and another asking why women can’t be more like men. 

Eliza soon finds the company of a wealthy man who fell for her when she was introduced to high society at a horse race. Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Will Ray) is so smitten with Eliza that he waits for her outside, singing the solo, “On the Street Where You Live.” Eliza, however, doesn’t fall for his words and wants him to show her how he feels. 

Eliza eventually ends up teaching Higgins a lesson, as well. It’s not how she acts but the way people act toward her that matters. Higgins subtly reveals his feelings in the song, “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” When she decides to return to him, there is no embrace or song to resolve the issue in a tacky way. They simply and ambiguously begin to resume their old roles, suggesting a mutual give and take.

“My Fair Lady” was adapted from “Pygmalion,” a play by George Bernard Shaw, written in 1956 by Alan Jay Lerner with music by Frederick Loewe. This play, directed by Shaun Kerrison, features a star-studded cast that also includes experienced actor Conrad John Schuck as Colonel Pickering and Nancy Dussault from TV’s “Too Close for Comfort” as Henry’s mother, Mrs. Higgins.

The Ogunquit Playhouse, on Route 1 in Ogunquit, Maine, seats about 690 people and has a small feel despite its large attendance. Almost 90,000 people visit the Playhouse every year now, allowing for a newly expanded season. Since 2006 the venue’s shows have run through October for a total of 22 weeks. Following “My Fair Lady will be a production of “Les Misérables,” Sept. 10-Oct. 12. For more information, visit www.ogunquitplayhouse.org or call 207-646-5511.