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George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion has been adapted many times for different media, but most notably as a musical entitled My Fair Lady. This musical was so popular that some screen adaptations have used the title "My Fair Lady" instead of the original "Pygmalion".

Why was the title changed to "My Fair Lady"? Is there any connection with the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down" which is often also called "My Fair Lady"?

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    Presumably, you're not asking why they avoided Pygmalion as a title, but why they chose My Fair Lady instead of something else? One likely answer comes to mind: focus groups (a.k.a product marketing).
    – Mick
    Feb 9, 2019 at 16:03
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    Is the account in the wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady#Background unsatisfactory? It cites a book by Lerner, The Street Where I Live, which presumably has more details. Feb 9, 2019 at 18:43
  • It’s a Hollywood musical, most likely the producers were worried the classical allusion would be lost and/or off-putting for its intended audience. Feb 19, 2019 at 16:09
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    Huh, TIL. I always assumed it was a West End musical first.
    – Rand al'Thor
    Feb 19, 2019 at 16:10
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    @Randal'Thor it was, with Julie Andrews in the starring role. The movie with Audrey Hepburn came later.
    – verbose
    Dec 7, 2020 at 12:20

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