Rain-soaked My Fair Lady star Kara Tointon is Strictly heading for a role in the wrong musical

By Nadia Mendoza

Last updated at 2:35 PM on 16th June 2011

She's meant to be the star of Pygmalion, but Kara Tointon looked ready to burst into a song from Singing In The Rain.
The former EastEnder, who played Dawn Swann in the BBC soap, was caught in a rain shower without an umbrella outside the ITV studios in London following an appearance on the Lorraine show.

Fortunately for her, Kara had a car waiting and avoided having to perform a rendition of Gene Kelly's infamous song from the 1950s musical.

Braving the rain: Kara posed for pictures as she left the ITV studios following a guest appearance on the Lorraine show

Last month, the 27-year-old began her run as cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle at the Garrick Theatre.

It is the first time the Londoner has played a leading lady in the West End.

St Trinian's actor Rupert Everett stars alongside Kara as Henry Higgins, the professor of phonetics who teaches her to speak properly.

West End star: Kara performs as Eliza Doolittle alongside Rupert Everett in the role of Henry Higgins at the Garrick Theatre

Pygmalion, written by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in 1912, was popularised under the Broadway show and film's title My Fair Lady.

Julie Andrews took on the stage role in 1956, nearly a decade before she was cast as Mary Poppins, while Audrey Hepburn was nominated for a Golden Globe for her efforts in the 1964 film.

Running for cover: Kara smiles as she's caught in a rain shower

And it seems life imitated art for Kara, who had to hire a real life speech therapist to prepare for the role.

Kara revealed: 'To get the posh Eliza, I needed one to teach me phonetics in the same way that Eliza did, so I felt her pain.'

Boyfriend Artem Chigvintsev, who helped Kara triumph in the final of Strictly Come Dancing 2010, showed his support on opening night by watching the production in the audience.