“My Fair Lady” is a bold investigation of gender roles, sexual politics, clashing cultures, and privilege. It also features the endlessly romantic and dreamy musical number “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

The musical has always worked at an odd balancing act. It’s part subversive piece of art, part sweet-and-magical bit of popcorn. In 2018, director Bartlett Sher put his thumb on the scale tipping his revival of “My Fair Lady” toward the subversive – the touring production of the show plays April 18-30 at the Citizens Bank Opera House.

“Audiences might remember the show in a more romantic light or remember it as a really offensive piece because they’ve seen an iteration where [main character] Eliza [Doolittle] is being abused,” Madeline Powell, who plays Eliza, told the Herald. “In Bartlett’s version of this play, his biggest goal was to give Eliza agency… he was really intentional about restoring George Bernard Shaw’s original Eliza.”

Both Shaw’s 1913 play “Pygmalion” and “My Fair Lady,” the 1956 musical adaptation of the play, follow snobbish London professor Henry Higgins’ effort to transform the poor and uneducated Eliza Doolittle into a refined lady. But “Pygmalion” ends on a defiant note and “My Fair Lady” concludes with a happily ever after. This modern update seems to split the difference.

“It’s such a brilliantly written show, with equal parts gravity and levity,” Powell said. “We want audiences to engage and laugh and be rowdy with us just as much as we want to really hear what [Eliza and Henry] are saying to each other and take it in. It’s a perfect piece of musical theater for a reason.”

The original run of “My Fair Lady” in the ’50s became the longest-running and largest-grossing Broadway production of the decade and won six Tony awards. The 1964 film version did just as well, winning three Oscars and topping the box office for months. This transformation retains the spectacle and big song-and-dance numbers that made “My Fair Lady” such a hit.

But it also gets at the heart of Shaw’s work. Much of it focuses on overcoming ignorance, overcoming the impulse to talk past those we deem not worthy of talking to.

“Jonathan Grunert, who plays my Professor Henry Higgins, and I often say that it boils down to being about two people who desperately want to understand the other and that comes with a lot of challenges when there is ego involved,” Powell said. “At the end of the day, both have to learn to set themselves aside to hear the other.”

“This is something that was true of gender roles when the show was written,” she added. “But sadly it’s just as true now.”

And so “My Fair Lady” remains full of dreamy musical numbers, and luscious costumes, sets and dancing. But this time around Eliza isn’t outdated but elevated. While it will be up to the audiences to decide if Powell is right that it is “a perfect piece of musical theater,” the actor, director, and the whole team behind this updated version have worked toward perfection.

For tickets and details, visit boston.broadway.com

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