Michael Feast to Replace Ailing Simon Ward in London Revival of Pygmalion

Michael Feast will join the cast of the London revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion on May 23 as Alfred Doolittle, the father of heroine Eliza Doolittle. Feast replaces Simon Ward, who has left the production because of a viral infection. Understudy Brendan Hooper is playing the role until Feast steps in. Opening night remains May 25 at the Garrick Theatre, directed and designed by Phillip Prowse.

Pygmalion stars Strictly Come Dancing winner Kara Tointon in her West End debut as Eliza, with Rupert Everett as Professor Henry Higgins, Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins and Peter Eyre as Colonel Pickering. Rounding out the cast are Marty Cruickshank, Helen Millar, Roberta Taylor and Peter Sandys Clarke.

Best known as the inspiration for the hit musical My Fair Lady, Pygmalion tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can transform the manners and speech of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle and pass her off as a lady in society.

Feast appeared on Broadway and in the West End as Macduff in Macbeth and on the London stage in Plague Over England, The Accused, The Forest, The Tempest, No Man’s Land, American Buffalo, Dispatches, Watch It Come Down, Measure for Measure, Murder in the Cathedral and Phaedra.

The limited engagement of Pygmalion will run through September 3.