The original Broadway production of
My Fair Lady opened on March 15, 1956, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre and became an instant sensation.
CBS, Columbia Records' parent company, had invested between 360,000 and 400,000 in the show in exchange for ownership stakes and the rights to produce the cast recording. Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records and a visionary advocate for musical theatre, spearheaded the project. The album was recorded at Columbia's famed 30th Street Studio, a deconsecrated church known for its superb acoustics. The sessions took place in late March 1956, just over a week after the Broadway premiere, and were described as an intense, all-day affair. In the recording, most of the spoken dialogue was omitted and several songs underwent structural changes, including the removal of verses, reduction of instrumental sections, and the combination of musical numbers. For example, "
Wouldn't It Be Loverly" had its spoken lines omitted and its dance break reduced; "
With a Little Bit of Luck" combined both stage versions into a single number; "
The Rain in Spain" featured reduced dialogue; "
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" had the string section reduced to a solo violin in the first chorus; and the lyrics in "
Get Me to the Church on Time" were altered, with "For Gawd’s sake" changed to "Be sure and get me". Columbia's engineering team used a three-microphone setup, one for vocals, one for the orchestra, and one for ambient tone, to balance clarity with theatrical energy.
Fred Plaut, Columbia's senior engineer, oversaw the final mastering, making adjustments for vinyl limitations. Lieberson's team edited and mastered the album, which shipped within days to meet 100,000 advance orders. ==Releases==