Lyric Opera of Chicago’s grand-scale company premiere of My Fair Lady, starring Richard E. Grant and Lisa O’Hare as Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, runs April 28 through May 21 at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. The cast also includes Bryce Pinkham (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), Nicholas Le Prevost (Colonel Pickering) and Donald Maxwell (Alfred Doolittle). All make their Lyric debuts with My Fair Lady.

My Fair Lady is the fifth installment of Lyric’s American Musical Initiative. David Chaseconducts and Olivier Fredj directs the American premiere of Robert Carsen’s grand production from Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with an all-new cast. The creative team also includes choreographer Lynne Page, scenic designer Tim Hatley and costume designer Anthony Powell.

My Fair Lady runs April 28-May 21, 2017, at Lyric’s Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Tickets start at $22 and are available now atwww.lyricopera.org/myfairlady or at 312-827-5600.

Richard E. Grant (Henry Higgins) has proven to be one of the great character actors of his generation since appearing in his first film as the perpetually inebriated title character in Withnail and I. Some of his most memorable credits include Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Henry & June, L.A. Story, The Player, The Age of Innocence, The Portrait of a Lady, Spice World, Gosford Park, and The Iron Lady. He has countless television credits, including featured roles on Girls, Downton Abbey, and Game of Thrones. In 2008, Grant performed the role of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady with Opera Australia. Following the recent releases of the acclaimed films Jackie and Logan, he has several other films scheduled for release, including the romantic comedy Their Finest and the dark comedy Can You Ever Forgive Me? with Melissa McCarthy.

Lisa O’Hare (Eliza Doolittle) was originally trained as a ballet dancer, performing in London at Sadler’s Wells and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, before making the transition to musical theater. Most recently, O’Hare originated the role of Sibella Hallward in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway. O’Hare has played the title role in Mary Poppins in Australia, on the UK tour, and at Prince Edward Theatre in London, Eliza Doolittle on the US and UK national tours of My Fair Lady (Elliot Norton and Denver Post Ovation Award winner), the title role in Gigi at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and Sally Bowles in Cabaret for the Reprise Theatre Company in Los Angeles. She has several television credits, including roles in Castle, The Closer, and Undercovers.

Lyric Opera premiere of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady generously made possible by The Negaunee Foundation, an Anonymous Donor, Mrs. Herbert A. Vance and Mr. and Mrs. William C. Vance, The Jacob and Rosaline Cohn Foundation, Robert S. and Susan E. Morrison, Mr. and Mrs. J. Christopher Reyes, Liz Stiffel, and Northern Trust. Production created by the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, on December 9, 2010, in coproduction with the State Academic Mariinsky Theater.

Lyric Opera of Chicago; Photo by Todd Rosenberg