One night of ‘My Fair Lady’ with Julie Benko in Aspen

Two months ago, an email landed unexpectedly in an inbox from Theatre Aspen. 

Actor Julie Benko opened it to discover a request for her to play the character Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Lowe’s musical “My Fair Lady” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 15, in the Michael Klein Music Tent as part of an Aspen Music Festival and School event.

Benko’s immediate reaction was, “Of course, 100%!” 

She often travels for projects, along with her husband, Jason Yeager, a pianist, and her young daughter, Lulu — six months old.

This is also not her first time in Aspen. The Tisch New York School of the Arts-trained performer came once before in 2024, when they were invited to perform two shows in one day of their cabaret, “Stand By Me,” with Theatre Aspen at the Hotel Jerome.

She calls that trip “unforgettable,” not only due to the performances and Aspen’s natural beauty but because it was at the Aspen airport when her husband first felt their baby kick.

Prior to this role, Benko’s star rose playing Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” in a Broadway production in 2022. Benko said that taking on iconic characters like Fanny or Eliza is always tricky because there is an established, beloved version, and the challenge is to find her own interpretation without simply imitating.

In “My Fair Lady,” a British phonetician makes a bet with a friend that he can transform the Cockney accent and demeanor of a flower girl, Eliza, to pass as authentic in high society through his coaching.

“With Eliza, the speech is so integral to her character — it’s written into the script the way she says things,” Benko said. 

Her process is to learn the method by rote until the lines are second nature. 

“The fluency allows me to be truly free to open up on stage with the other actors,” she said. 

She adds that she’s been listening to various accents, and having sung along to Julie Andrews’s version of the musical her whole life, the music feels deeply familiar. At 20 years old, Andrews played Eliza in the original 1956 Broadway production. Audrey Hepburn starred in the film version in 1964, which won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. “My Fair Lady” is based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” Collaborators Lerner and Loewe who created the musical for “My Fair Lady,” worked together for three decades and wrote nine musicals.

Both characters, Fanny and Eliza, possess strong, working-class dialects — Fanny with her New York, Brooklyn, Jewish accent and Eliza with her Cockney. Both are melodic and expressive, which is where the comedy lies, in comparison to modern American English, which can be quite flat, Benko explained.

Beyond the accents, she sees both Fanny and Eliza as incredibly scrappy, intelligent working-class women. She describes them as optimistic, determined to better their positions, and seizing every opportunity they can find. While men are involved in their stories, both women achieve their goals largely through their own savvy and grit. 

“My love for accents and language, which I’ve cultivated through studying Spanish, Italian, and French, along with my acting school training, has definitely given me an ear for these nuances,” Benko said.

The joint Theatre Aspen and The Aspen Music Festival and School production of “My Fair Lady” is a unique “one-night-only” event. 

“It presents an extra challenge because you only get one swing — if you don’t get it right, you’ve missed it. That brings an undeniable pressure, but it also makes it incredibly special,” she said. “For this, I can throw absolutely everything I’ve got into one explosive performance.”

There is a week of rehearsals for “My Fair Lady” in New York, followed by another week of practice in Aspen. She is thrilled to be working with such talented people as four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza, whom Benko has never met before, and director Maggie Burrows, whom she did a reading with before. Burrow has directed this show on Broadway. Andy Einhorn is set to conduct the 60-plus-member Aspen Music Festival Orchestra.

It won’t be all work and no play for Benko during her stay in Aspen. 

“I’ve heard good things about the thrifting there! I’m excited to check it out,” she said of her Roaring Fork Valley shopping goals.

As she aspires for her career to continue to be filled with challenging and rewarding opportunities, she acknowledges the stamina involved with projects like this one.

“These roles demand you to be at the top of your game as an actor and singer, and you have to truly love the material when you sign on, and with ‘My Fair Lady,’ I absolutely do,” Benko said.

Tickets start at $68, including all fees. Run time is approximately two hours 15 minutes, including intermission. For more information, tickets and special events associated with the performance, visit aspenmusicfestival.com/events/calendar/my-fair-lady.