GREAT PERFORMANCES: JULIE ANDREWS: BACK ON BROADWAY (TV)
Summary
One in this series of programs on the performing arts. This installment looks at the career of singer/actress Julie Andrews as she prepares to return to the Broadway stage after a three-decade hiatus. Andrews is seen in interviews, archival footage, rehearsal and in performance of her new show, "Victor/Victoria." Her life and career are also recalled by her husband, Blake Edwards; her ex-husband, Tony Walton; her daughter, Emma Walton; and friends and colleagues such as Carol Burnett, Michael Bentine, Dilys Laye, Roddy McDowell, Dick Van Dyke, James Garner, and Michael Kidd. After a brief look at the development of "Victor/Victoria," the program goes back to Andrews's youth, chronicling her rise as a child performer. Andrews recalls being recruited as a young adult for the New York production of the musical play "The Boy Friend" and making her Broadway debut at barely nineteen. The documentary moves on to her first huge success in Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady," and she recalls the "very long weekend" during which director Moss Hart served as her Pygmalion and helped her grow into the part of Eliza. She is seen performing part of "I Could Have Danced All Night" in television footage, and Andrews, McDowell, and Burnett comment on the demanding nature of the role. After briefly touching on the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical "Cinderella" (1957), the program moves on to an exploration of Andrews's next Broadway success in "Camelot" with Richard Burton, whom Andrews calls "probably the most charismatic man I have ever met"; the two are seen performing parts of the songs "Camelot" and "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" Burnett recalls meeting Andrews and forging an instant, lifelong friendship; the two are seen in their 1963 television special, "Julie and Carol and Carnegie Hall." Andrews recalls the birth of her daughter Emma soon afterward, and Andrews and Tony Walton discuss going to California to work on the 1964 film "Mary Poppins" for Walt Disney. This is followed by footage of Andrews's next film, "The Americanization of Emily" (1964), in which she enjoyed her first non-singing dramatic role, and of the career juggernaut "The Sound of Music" (1965). Andrews is seen receiving an Academy Award for "Mary Poppins," and McDowell, Kidd, and Walton talk about the enormous fame and success that followed, which quickly brought more big-budget films such as "Torn Curtain" and "Hawaii" (both 1966). Walton talks about the toll that Andrews's renown took on her and on their marriage, which dissolved. After Andrews performs two numbers from "Victor/Victoria," "Crazy World" and "Louis Says," she is seen in stock footage rehearsing for her next big film, "Star" (1968), with choreographer Michael Kidd. Director Robert Wise discusses the failure of this picture, in which Andrews portrayed another English musical star, the late Gertrude Lawrence. She and Edwards recall their meeting and courtship, as well as their collaboration on another big-budget musical failure, "Darling Lili" (1970). She is seen persevering on television in the early 1970s as her film career fell apart, and Edwards remembers that the couple moved with their children to Switzerland for a while during that decade in order to get away from Hollywood. She is seen in her pictures for Edwards after their return, "10" (1979), "S.O.B." (1981), and the film version of "Victor/Victoria" (1982). She and Edwards discuss the adaptation of that film to the stage, paying tribute to lyricist Leslie Bricusse and especially to their longtime collaborator, composer Henry Mancini. Andrews talks about her character in the musical and the feeling of being "back in harness again." The program concludes with a final number from "Victor/Victoria," "Living in the Shadows."
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: October 25, 1995 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:26:47
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:67496
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Actresses; Biography; Music, Popular (Songs, etc.); Musical revues, comedies, etc. - Excerpts; Singers
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1974-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jac Venza … Executive Producer
- Richard Schilling … Coordinating Producer
- John Walker … Producer
- Mona Niemiec … Associate Producer
- Bill Murphy … Line Producer
- Glenn DuBose … Managing Director
- David Horn … Director
- Karen McLaughlin … Direction (Misc.), Associate Director, Broadway Taping
- Renee Butler … Direction (Misc.), Technical Director, Broadway Taping
- Thomas S. Wilson … Researcher, Research Assistant
- Judy Chesterman … Researcher
- David Drummond … Researcher
- Sandra Mangino … Researcher
- Jennifer Warner … Researcher
- Julie Andrews
- Michael Bentine
- Leslie Bricusse
- Carol Burnett
- Richard Burton
- Walt Disney
- Blake Edwards
- James Garner
- Hammerstein, Oscar, II
- Moss Hart
- Michael Kidd
- Gertrude Lawrence
- Dilys Laye
- Alan Jay Lerner
- Frederick Loewe
- Henry Mancini
- Roddy McDowell
- Richard Rodgers
- Dick Van Dyke
- Emma Walton
- Tony Walton
- Robert Wise