The last time Sir Cameron Mackintosh was at the Bradford Alhambra he was watching his mega-hit Miss Saigon from the wings.

"I love the Alhambra, it's a perfectly sized theatre. I remember thinking, 'I wish all theatres could be like this', " he says.

Two years on, the theatre producer with the Midas touch is returning to Bradford with his Olivier Award-winning production of My Fair Lady, starring Christopher Cazanove as Professor Henry Higgins, Amy Nuttall as Eliza Doolittle and Gareth Hale as her father.

Directed by Trevor Nunn, the landmark production opened in London in 2001 starring Martine McCutcheon.

Audiences love the show - about an outspoken linguistics professor's attempts to transform a cockney flower girl into a well-spoken lady - and its classic songs like I Could Have Danced All Night and Wouldn't It Be Loverly.

While George Bernard Shaw purists may argue that Lerner and Loewe's musical would have him spinning in his grave, Sir Cameron insists this version stays true to Shaw's play, Pygmalion, inspired by a Greek myth.

"The show is based on the 1938 film of Pygmalion, which Shaw co-wrote. It has the same unresolved ending, " says Sir Cameron. "My Fair Lady is the greatest musical ever written but it's more than just a musical comedy.

It's not as emotionally powerful as shows like Miss Saigon but it's certainly thought-provoking. It's always had a place in my heart, ever since I saw Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in the original Drury Lane production when I was 13. It inspired a production of my own in 1979 directed by Alan J Lerner himself."

The current UK tour marks the musical's 50th anniversary. Why is it still so popular?

"It's a marvellous story - those Greeks knew what they were doing, " says Sir Cameron. "I think it's more timely now than when I last revived it. Look at the celebrity Pop Idol culture that has evolved over the last five years; ordinary girls are transformed into glamorous stars overnight like modern Eliza Doolittles. That strikes a chord with young audiences, it becomes more than just a show set in Edwardian times, a classic from another era.

"That's why Martine McCutcheon brought so much to the show, she's an Essex girl made good. Amy brings the same quality; she has terrific grit, you believe that she's worked hard to make it, and her transformation is utterly believable. The same went for Julie Andrews. But I never believed for a minute that Audrey Hepburn would be left in the gutter!"

Although Sir Cameron admits that the enduring popularity of the 1965 movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison draws audiences to his show, he stresses it's very much a stage musical.

"Anthony Ward's sets and Matthew Bourne's choreography have reinvented it but it retains an essence of the original. Matthew has opened out a lot of numbers, Get Me to the Church for example is a huge riproaring drinking session, and Anthony's sets retain the Cecil Beaton element of the movie, particularly the striking Ascot sets."

Described by the New York Times as 'the most successful, influential and powerful producer of our time', Sir Cameron produced the world's most successful shows - Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and Miss Saigon.

He knew aged eight that he wanted to produce musicals, after being taken to see Salad Days. Starting off as a stagehand at London's Theatre Royal, he vowed that by the age of 25 he'd be producing shows. It happened faster than that. He became assistant stage manager on a national tour of Oliver!

and aged 20 he was producing small tours. His first West End musical, Anything Goes closed after a fortnight but undeterred, Sir Cameron returned to his childhood inspiration and revived Salad Days.

During the 1970s he produced countless tours, notably a five-year run of Godspell. International success came with Sondheim's musical revue Side by Side, transferring to New York, and his hit revival of Oliver! spawning productions of My Fair Lady and Oklahoma!

In 1980 Sir Cameron collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Cats, then came shows like Song and Dance, Phantom of the Opera, Follies and Les Misrables, marking Sir Cameron's golden collaboration with writers Alain Boublil and ClaudeMichel Schnberg. Their next venture, Miss Saigon, was the fourth of Sir Cameron's productions to run for over ten years - a first in the industry.

Two years ago Sir Cameron realised a dream to produce a stage musical of Mary Poppins. A West End hit, it opens on Broadway in October.

My Fair Lady runs at the Alhambra from April 4-29. Ring (01274) 432000.