God on Broadway: My Fair Lady - A Dramatic Transformation
My Fair Lady: A Dramatic Transformation
Acts 9:1-9, 17-19
Series: God on Broadway
August 17, 2025
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church, San Rafael, CA
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank…..
So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Acts 9:1-9, 17-19 NRSV
Words matter. So do actions. In worship, scripture is read because those words and the living word matter.
In our show today “My Fair Lady,” you could say it is musical about words, English words spoken with clear diction. There are also words of insult, demeaning, arrogance and words of defiance, confusion. And there are words of love, admiration, honesty.
Words play a central role in this musical. Words dominate the life of Henry Higgins. He has dedicated his life to the study of phonetics and the teaching of the English language. Words are his profession. Words are his life. In fact it seems he has nothing else.
So we follow Eliza as she takes speech lessons from Prof. Higgins. She struggles but ultimately, she learns her lessons well. Eventually she is presented to the town as a woman of high society. She has changed. But is she the only one transformed in the show? What has really changed about her? Her transformation involves external things - her speech, her dress, her social graces.
Prof. Higgins is all about the challenge of changing her. He seems to have a hardened heart and is stuck in his view of himself and others. He's not a pleasant person to be around - his insecurities are covered up by an ugly arrogance and pride. He judges others. He blames others, verbally abuses others. He values people according to what they have and what they look like and what they sound like.
Eliza seems to think of herself as adequate but not good enough. In some scenes, she seems to believe Prof. Higgins low view of her. And at other times she is confident and fiery. Let’s look at her struggle with her lessons and Prof. Higgins attitude.
Video Clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKxd30lQ1f0&ab_channel=Loecsen
The way you speak will tell people who you are. Maybe. But there is more.
What words do we believe about ourselves? Do we think we are not enough? Think too much of ourselves or too little? How do we imagine God, Source of Love might talk to us? Traditional theology – we are nothing or full of sin and need Jesus to save us. But there is another thread through biblical narratives and Christian theologies - We are blessed and beloved and all people are. We have forgotten this. Remember that is the truth. Live in response to those words and that truth. Love our neighbor because they are beloved.
How do we see ourselves? How do we see others? Let’s look at Saul from Acts 9.
The context for Saul of Tarsus was a world of rigid hierarchy – religious, economic, tribal, racial. He was a faithful Jew and Roman citizen. He strictly followed the Jewish laws and customs. He had power as a Roman citizen to arrest anyone who uttered words or acted in ways that were against the empire or challenged Jewish religious practices and authority. He was ruthless. He persecuted those following the ways of Jesus. He followed all the rules and looked down and even punished those who were less than.
Like Higgins, Paul was rigid. Paul was arrogant. His way was the only way so when fellow Jews started a new ways of thinking by this Jesus of Nazareth, Saul/Paul started rounding them up and persecuting them.
But then he has an experience that we read from book of Acts. Paul came to understand that Christ had a different kind of power – a power of love. A different kingdom or kin-dom. Not hierarchy. Paul is blinded and then when he regains his sight, he has been transformed. His heart, his mind. His words and actions are changed. He is compassionate. He hears of voice – Jesus – and becomes a follower, a disciple.
When people want to know what love is supposed to be, who do they turn to Paul 1 Corinthians 13. It is read at almost every wedding -
Love is patient, love is kind,
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude
love does not insist on its own way
it is not irritable or resentful
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth
love bears all things, believes all things
hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends
Paul wrote that - the persecutor. Christ, Holy Mystery, Source of Love, God – invited him to live a deeper life, a different life. Not clean & unclean, not insiders and outsiders. The Way was a bigger table, a lifting up of others, of seeing each person made in the image of God.
How do people change? Practice, learning, encouraged. Eliza is transformed. Let’s watch a scene when something finally clicks and there is joy all around.
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaZWZjluit8&t=1s&ab_channel=FathomEntertainment
At the beginning of the musical, she sings “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” She has basic needs, but she wants more – a relationship, love, a safe warm place to live… She learns to speak in a more educated fashion. She walks differently. She wears clothes of the upper class in London. Her exterior has changed. And yet we might say she has always been a woman who would not be dismissed and had some level of agency. She knows Freddy has fallen in love with her and we are left wondering if she does indeed marry him.
The very last song in My Fair Lady is the familiar “I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face.” It's sung by Higgins and we see a side of him we've never seen before. He is the one who is truly transformed on the inside. It's not on the dramatic kind of transformation that Paul had, but something has changed for him. He's willing to feel love and experience love in a way he hasn't before. Here is an excerpt from a production with Higgins singing.
Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiViR189axk&t=145s&ab_channel=AsburyMemorialChurchVideos
But in the midst of this new attitude we see the old Higgins returned old tapes of insecurity and jealousy keep resurfacing. Right in the middle of the song he starts battling old negative feelings, but then he is able to get back on track and be open and vulnerable again with his feelings.
Who do we identify with in My Fair Lady? Eliza, Higgins, others? And who in story of Saul/Paul? What are moments of your life of transformation, deeper awareness, letting go of old messages and living into a deeper love and grace for ourselves and others?
And today in this time and place in our country, do how do we see others? How might we see others differently and stand with and stand up for those who are seen as worthless, outsiders, unacceptable? No person is illegal. Cruelty is not acceptable for followers of The Way, the ways and words of Jesus.
How is the Holy One changing you, changing you – our hearts, our minds – to grow in our empathy, our compassion, our commitment to taking the words of the prophets to heart? What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God?
We practice these lessons in community. We do this in prayer and action and daily actions of loving God, of knowing we are beloved and loved unconditionally, and loving our neighbors. May it be so. Amen.
Resource
God on Broadway Series – “My Fair Lady” - October 14, 2018 Asbury Methodist Church, Savannah Georgia https://asburymemorial.360unite.com/worship-service-2018-10-14