(Photo: Jason Kibbler; Hair by Peter Butler for Artists by Timothy Priano; Makeup by Matin for Artists by Timothy Priano; Grooming by Andre Gunn; Styling by Alicia Lombardini for Avant Groupe; On Claire Danes: Skirt by Chanel; Blouse by Alexander McQueen; Hat by Stephen Jones for Basso & Brooke; On Jefferson Mays: Trousers by Thom Browne; Shirt by Rag & Bone; Suspenders by Breuer; Tie by Tim Hamilton)

Shaw’s Pygmalion is a classic of the strange-bedfellows theatrical genre, and this fall’s Broadway revival presents what might be the season’s oddest couple. “I’m a sucker for a challenge, really,” says theater neophyte Claire Danes, noting that she doesn’t yet have Eliza Doolittle’s Cockney accent down. “I like being in over my head.” She’d never read the play before being offered the part, and hasn’t even seen My Fair Lady. Meanwhile, Tony-winning veteran Jefferson Mays, her soon-to-be Henry Higgins, has been watching taped sessions of Parliament, and if anything, the role may be “too comfortable” for him—though it’s different from his recent British-accent outing, as a Cockney World War I soldier in last season’s Journey’s End alongside Danes’s boyfriend, Hugh Dancy. “It seems strange to know so much about theater through boyfriends,” admits Danes (she’s also Billy Crudup’s ex). But this is her chance to stand up on her own, critics be damned—to make a transformation every bit as profound as Eliza’s. “It’s the best makeover story of all time,” she says of Pygmalion. “Everybody loves a good makeover story.”

Pygmalion
Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre; opens October 18.

Related:

• Archive: “Guides”
• Articles by Boris Kachka
• Table of Contents: Sep 3, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!