Truly Julie

Julie Andrews ain’t down yet. Virtually unable to sing since she underwent a botched throat operation in 1997, this great star of stage, film, and television is nevertheless “busier than ever,” according to her publicist — and there’s no exaggeration involved in that phrase.

She has several projects on her plate but none more exciting than her upcoming stage directorial debut. This August, Andrews will be helming a production of The Boy Friend — the musical that first brought her to America from England in 1954 — for the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, of which Andrews’s daughter Emma Walton is co-artistic director. The show will be choreographed by John DeLuca, partner and collaborator of Rob Marshall, who choreographed the stage version of Victor/Victoria that brought Andrews back to Broadway after an absence of more than 30 years. Just to keep it all in the family, The Boy Friend‘s sets will be designed by the great Tony Walton, Emma’s father and Julie’s first husband.

Julie Andrews’s performances in My Fair Lady and Camelot are the stuff of Broadway legend. Her films include two of the most successful movie musicals of all time, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, not to mention such other flicks as Torn Curtain, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Victor/Victoria. In 1957, she made a tremendous impression in the title role of Cinderella, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical written expressly for television. Though Andrews’s 1970s TV variety series was not a world-beater in the ratings, it earned critical acclaim and a cadre of loyal viewers, as did the three specials in which she romped with her great pal Carol Burnett. For many years, Andrews has been active as an author of children’s books, solo and in collaboration with Emma Walton. Just last month, she was a big hit as a presenter at the Academy Awards — and she prompted huge laughter with her on-screen reaction to Steve Martin’s suggestion that she was one of his sex partners.

To say the least, Julie Andrews is experienced and accomplished in many areas, yet she is both excited and nervous about her directorial debut. I spoke with our fair lady via telephone last week about The Boy Friend and other aspects of her brilliant career.

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THEATERMANIA: Hi, Miss Andrews.

JULIE ANDREWS: Hi. I hope I’m calling at an appropriate moment.

TM: It’s just fine. You’re in Los Angeles?

JULIE: Yes. And you’re in New York?

TM: Yes. The last time I got to see you in person was the night when you and Carol Burnett were honored at the Museum of Television & Radio gala at the Waldorf Astoria.

JULIE: Oh, that was a great night for me and my chum, Carol. And, the following day, we had this wonderful lunch at the museum itself. I haven’t been to it since it got into its new quarters. It’s elegant!

TM: They’ve shown the Cinderella rehearsal tape there recently.

JULIE: Really? I haven’t seen that yet. It’s something that I have to look at, though I know I’ll just cringe.

TM: You have so many things going on right now, but since we’re a theater website, I thought we could start by talking about The Boy Friend — even though it’s quite a ways away.

JULIE: But believe me, it’s not. It’s only a few months before we actually start rehearsals and, since it’s my debut in terms of directing, there’s so much preparation to do. I’m scared to death.

TM: I’m told that John DeLuca is in place as choreographer.

JULIE: Yes, as is Tony Walton to design it. And Larry Grossman is going to be the musical director. I could not be more thrilled that I’ll be working with those three friends. And if I’m going to debut in a new venture, I can’t think of a safer or lovelier place to do it than the Bay Street Theatre.

TM: I don’t know a lot about Vida Hope, who directed The Boy Friend in 1954.

JULIE: She was the director of the original production in England and she basically did the American one, but there was a bit of unpleasantness involved. Cy Feuer took over at some point toward the end of the rehearsal period in New York.

TM: I haven’t read Feuer’s new memoir but I’m told that he speaks very well of you.

JULIE: It’s a great book, as a matter of fact. He’s just so full of energy, enthusiasm, and charm. I owe him a huge debt of thanks for a great many things he did for me.

TM: I’ve never seen a stage production of The Boy Friend.

JULIE: I think it’s done in colleges and around the country, but I haven’t seen it recently.

TM: And the movie version is quite different.

JULIE: Very different.

TM: Given the nature of the show, I don’t suppose you have any bold, new directorial concept for the Bay Street production.

JULIE: The show itself is a little gem, a piece of lace. It is a sort of pastiche of the musicals of the ’20s and, as such, it should be done with enormous affection. But within that, I do have some thoughts about it. I’m hoping it will have a kind of stamp to it.

TM: Over the years, you’ve spoken frequently about Moss Hart, the director of My Fair Lady and Camelot. I recently finished Steven Bach’s biography of Hart. Have you read it?

JULIE: Yes, I have.

TM: Do you feel that it provides a clear picture of the man?

JULIE: Yes. The thing is, Moss was an unbelievably generous human being. I really do credit him with all that I am today. I mean, I’ve been hugely lucky in my life and I’ve had wonderful mentors, Cy Feuer among them. But Moss was probably the definitive one. He helped me so, so much.

TM: I don’t know if you want to comment on this but, in Bach’s book, he quoted some horribly vile things that Rex Harrison supposedly said to Hart during rehearsals.

JULIE: Yes, I know! I’m surprised that it all came out in the bio. As far as I remember, the quotes are fairly accurate — though I wasn’t aware of a lot of it at the time, thank God! It would have made me twice as nervous and twice as fearful. Rex was brilliant; that’s the first thing. Somebody can be a monster, but if they cut the mustard, you forgive them everything.

TM: Sort of a Jerome Robbins kind of thing?

JULIE: Right. Believe me, Rex was difficult. And mercurial. But I stood in awe of what I saw him do, and I learned so much from him. I mean, some nights, I would stand with my mouth open and forget that I was Eliza. It was so amazing to watch the man work through an audience, with an audience, and around an audience.

TM: Moss Hart had a heart attack during rehearsals for Camelot. That must have been a grueling process.

JULIE: Well, Fair Lady was a tough act to follow. I’ve often wondered, if Camelot came first, whether it would have had an even bigger success than it had. They were trying to make a musical out of a four-novel saga, The Once and Future King; I don’t know how you could do that and condense it to the point where it becomes totally cohesive. With Fair Lady, the original George Bernard Shaw play was so strong that you had the best script in the world to begin with. Then the music was so extraordinary, and the costumes and the scenery. It was a huge responsibility and an enormous task — almost more than I felt up to on any particular day — because it was screaming cockney, it was pure soprano singing, it was dramatic scenes and quick changes. Everything about it was vast and strong and big and weighty.

TM: And as for Camelot?

JULIE: The beauty of that show was that its heart was so decent and pure. The original books by T. H. White deal with such issues as decency and chivalry and might being used for right, if you’ll pardon the expression. So, even though the book [of the musical] was unwieldy, it was a joy to perform. I do remember that, a year or more after we’d opened, we’d all still be sitting backstage and wondering, “You know, if I just did this, do you think it would point that up a little bit more?” That included Richard [Burton] and all the members of the company. There was a united family feeling in the show.

TM: Let me tell you, it was pretty powerful to see Camelot at the Paper Mill Playhouse recently, with what’s going on in the world.

JULIE: The first scene is an extraordinary little play in itself. The whole first act is brilliant. I think people couldn’t forgive the fact that, in the second act, it turns into a darker piece.

TM: Yet those scenes are wonderful on their own terms.

JULIE: I agree. But, for some reason, I think everyone wanted the musical to be lovely and light.

TM: When I last interviewed you, in 1998, we talked a little bit about the future of the movie musical. I thought we might revisit that topic because a lot has happened since then — most importantly, Chicago, directed by your friend Rob Marshall.

JULIE: Oh, yes! I think the wonder of it is that Rob made a pure cinematic piece out of a marvelous theatrical piece. It isn’t just an adaptation of the theater version of Chicago; it has become its own animal on film. And it was Rob’s vision and talent that brought it off.

TM: Do you agree with the party line that one of the reasons Chicago succeeded on film was the distancing concept? Could people nowadays accept a sincere musical film without the device of it being presented as if the numbers are happening in someone’s mind?

JULIE: That’s a good question. I think it depends on the subject. If it were wall-to-wall music, that would be acceptable. Or something like Sweeney Todd; I’ve always thought that would make a phenomenal film musical. It would be dark and you could use London at its seamiest and dirtiest — the bridges, the Thames, the whole texture. I think that would work, but that’s just my opinion. Again, the wonder of Chicago is that Rob pulled it off. And the sheer amount of talent in that movie! When I saw it, I kept thinking, “My God, how can they keep this up?”

TM: Yes. When I saw it the first time, I almost couldn’t believe it.

JULIE: And didn’t you want to immediately turn around and see it again?

TM: I’ve seen it four times.

JULIE: Then you know what I’m talking about!

TM: It wasn’t until I saw it in a small town in Florida that I actually got to hear Chita Rivera’s second line. Every time I saw Chicago in Manhattan, people were cheering her so loudly that I had trouble making out what she said.

JULIE: Oh, how lovely. That was a nice moment to honor her that way in the movie. Rob’s talent is obviously huge, and I hope that he follows Chicago with perhaps one more musical, because then it would help cement the whole swing back — if there is going to be a swing back.

TM: Well, it seems clear that we could talk about Chicago for hours, but let’s get back to your own projects. You have your new Harper Collins imprint, which is very exciting.

JULIE: Yes. It debuts this fall.

TM: I know that one of your first books is based on John Bucchino’s song “Grateful.”

JULIE: It’s been very prettily designed, and Art Garfunkel has done a CD of the song that will be included in the back of the book. God knows, it’s one of the loveliest ballads that anybody could sing. I had initially hoped that I might be able to embrace it, but I didn’t think I could do it justice. So I said, “Better it’s done well.”

TM: There’s so much else on your agenda. I understand that you recently filmed two TV movies based on the Eloise books simultaneously, and you’ll be filming a third one starting in June?

JULIE: Yes. I await further instructions, but it seems that it is a go.

TM: So the chronology is: first Eloise #3, then The Boy Friend, and then you’re going to be doing a sequel to The Princess Diaries?

JULIE: That’s the plan at the moment, plus the debut of the imprint. And I’m frantically trying to finish a children’s novel with Emma for the launch of the imprint.

TM: Seeing all of those great clips at the MT&R gala made me wonder if any of that material might be made available on home video. I know that there tend to be rights problems…

JULIE: It’s something that we’ve been talking about for a long time. But, God yes — the rights involved, the clearances and things like that, are tremendous. Carol and I are still hoping that we might pull off a fourth TV special together; we’ve done three. She’s a very close friend and I adore her. I must say, we saw things [at the gala] where we just looked at each other and said, “When did we do that?” I mean, when Carol staggered in with that elk around her neck and threw it onto the table — I do not remember ever shooting that sketch, and yet there it was! There were other clips, too, that I literally haven’t seen since we did them. It was quite an evening.

TM: Speaking of memorable evenings: The Oscars were something special this year.

JULIE: It was electric in the audience. You could feel it everywhere. I’ve attended several of them, but I’ve never been at one like that. I don’t know if it was because of the tension of the war, but it really was an extraordinary night. Steve Martin threaded that needle so brilliantly. Anything inappropriate would have been so wrong, you know?

TM: The standing ovation you received was particularly great in that it seemed so spontaneous.

JULIE: That was very moving and very dear. It completely surprised me.

TM: Just for the record, before you go: Have you, in fact, been physically intimate with Steve Martin? And, if so, how was he?

JULIE: [laughing] I do not kiss and tell!

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[For more information on Bay Street Theatre and The Boy Friend, visit the website www.baystreet.org]