Happy birthday, Julie Andrews

Happy birthday to stage and screen star Julie Andrews, who turns 74 today!

My favorite parts of Andrews' memoir, Home, deal with her experiences on Broadway. I didn't think there were any clips of her performance as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but I found one!

The musical opened on March 15, 1956 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre and played for 2,717 performances. (Wouldn't it be loverly to have the Hellinger as a Broadway theatre again?)

Gifts for theatre lovers

Okay, Jan at Broadway & Me is my inspiration for this. She wrote about 12 terrific gifts - one for each day of Christmas - that you can get for the theatre lover on your shopping list. So I tried to come up with my own list of 8 presents, one for each night of Chanukah, which begins Dec. 21. But really, the items on both of our lists would be great to give and receive for any holiday. I took most of the prices from Amazon, just to give you some idea of the cost involved.

1.) Broadway: The American Musical. If I could pick just one gift, it would be this 6-hour documentary tracing the history of musical theatre that aired on PBS in 2004. I watched it before making my first trip to Broadway, and it got me even more excited. I even bought the companion 5-cd box set. Plus, there are hours of extra interviews on the dvds that didn't make it into the documentary. Since it's been out for a few years, I'm assuming most people reading this already have a copy. But there are new musical theatre fans being born every minute and they'll be needing one of their very own. Cost: dvd, 59.99; cd box set, $53.99.

2.) A Raisin in the Sun. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's play about the struggles and aspirations of an African-American family. A copy of the play would make a nice gift, along with a dvd of the recent Broadway revival starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra MacDonald that was filmed for television. Several theatre companies (and probably more) are putting on A Raisin in the Sun during its anniversary year. So if you live near one of them, consider buying a pair of tickets for that special someone. Cost: book, $6.95; dvd, $15.49.

3.) Carols for a Cure, Vol. 10. Whenever I'm at a show and there's an appeal for donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, I always drop some money in the fundraising bucket. While I've never bought anything at their online store, this year is different. I have my eye on the 10th anniversary Carols for a Cure CD. Every year, the casts of Broadway and off-Broadway shows record holiday songs, and this year's two-disc set includes classic tracks from past volumes. I can't wait to hear the cast of Hairspray sing "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!" Cost: $20.

4.) Broadway Nights and The Q Guide to Broadway. These books by Seth Rudetsky are quick, very fun reads. I bought Broadway Nights, his novel, in the spring. It's about the life and loves of a pit musician who gets his big break when he's hired to be the musical director for a new show. So you get a bird's-eye view of how a Broadway musical comes together. I picked up the Q Guide during my trip to New York last month. It's filled with useful information, like the Top 10 Broadway CDs you must have, and the difference between an understudy, a standby and a swing. There's also some (discreet) backstage gossip. Cost: Broadway Nights, $10.85; The Q Guide to Broadway, $11.86.

5.) Long Day's Journey Into Night What makes the short-lived 1986 Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's classic play different from all others? It's got Kevin Spacey as the ne'e-do-well, alcoholic Jamie Tyrone, of course! And Jack Lemmon, Bethel Leslie and Peter Gallagher, too. I love watching Spacey and Lemmon engage in some brutal verbal sparring as father and son. As a bonus, there are two audio interviews - one with Spacey and a second with director Jonathan Miller. Spacey's interview is great - he talks about getting started in the business, how Jack Lemmon became a mentor and the slightly devious method he used to get an audition for Long Day's Journey. Aspiring actors, take note! Cost: $22.99.

6. Home: A memoir of my early years. Julie Andrews' memoir is an an exquisitely written, wonderfully detailed look at her youth in wartime England and her career on stage in London and New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My favorite parts are about her experiences on Broadway, where she starred in three shows in quick succession - The Boy Friend, My Fair Lady and Camelot. The book concludes with Andrews heading to Hollywood for the filming of Mary Poppins. I hope she's working on a sequel. Cost: $17.79.

7. 13. Tickets to a Broadway musical about a Jewish teenager who moves from New York City to Indiana and wonders whether the cool kids will come to his bar mitzvah - the perfect Chanukah (or Christmas) gift. I really enjoyed this sweet, funny, exuberant show about not simply going along with the crowd just because its the popular thing to do. It's got a catchy rock 'n' roll score by Jason Robert Brown, and a very energetic and appealing all-teenage cast. While 13 is closing Jan. 4, there's still time to see it over the holidays. You can also get the cast recording and the book based on the musical (which I haven't read yet.) Cost: book, $11.67; cd, $13.99

8. Broadway magnet. I have all my ticket stubs and Playbills, I love the Broadway posters and the souvenir programs and the coffee table books. And there's nothing better than eating your cereal and milk in the morning while gazing up at a refrigerator covered with magnets from your favorite Broadway shows. (Don't ask how many I have. Too many.) The Playbill store has a great selection of magnets and other merchandise for the theatre lover on your holiday shopping list. Cost (magnets): $4 and up

Happy birthday Julie Andrews!

Stage and screen legend Julie Andrews turns 73 today, and I want to send along my wishes for a very happy birthday. I recently finished reading her memoir, Home, an exquisitely written, wonderfully detailed look at her youth and her career on Broadway in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The book takes us through her childhood in wartime England, including the terror of being in London during the Blitz, her start as a singer in postwar musical revues and on BBC radio, and her success on Broadway. It concludes with Andrews, her then-husband, Tony Walton and their baby, Emma, heading to California in 1963 for the filming of Mary Poppins.

Before I read it, I didn't know anything about Andrews' background or what kind of childhood she had. Her mother was a pianist who left Andrews' beloved father for a young Canadian tenor she met on a USO-type tour when Andrews was 5 years old. She wasn't quite 10 when she first appeared with her mother and stepfather in their musical act.

Both Andrews' mother and stepfather were alcoholics whose careers eventually declined as hers blossomed. In contrast with her gentle, kindly father, Andrews' stepfather could be a nasty, brutish man, especially when he'd been drinking. As a teenager, Andrews basically became the breadwinner for her mother, stepfather and two half-brothers - spending long stretches of time away from home performing.

My favorite parts of the memoir deal with Andrews' experiences on Broadway. It was so interesting to read about what it was like to come to New York City as a teenager and star in three shows in quick succession.

She recalls that "Everything about New York at the beginning seemed like an assault. The pace, the customs, the pressure of being in a wonderful hit show, the exposure to so much that was exciting and new. There were days when I was so overwhelmed that I literally found myself pausing in shop doorways to gain my breath."

And she takes us through the whole process of putting together a Broadway show - from auditioning to rehearsals and costume fittings, to the out-of-town tryout and opening night, to coping with the physical strain of performing eight times a week and keeping her singing voice in proper shape.

Andrews made her Great White Way debut in September 1954, just before her 19th birthday, in The Boy Friend. Two years later came My Fair Lady, and in 1960, Camelot. She didn't return for more than 30 years, until Victor/Victoria in 1995.

But Andrews shares some great stories about the first three shows, including what it was like to work with legendary figures like Rex Harrison and Richard Burton, both of whom could be extremely difficult at times, and Moss Hart, whom she especially revered.

She's also brutally honest about the steep learning curve she had to undergo for My Fair Lady. "About two weeks into rehearsals, it became obvious to me and to everyone that I was hopelessly out of my depth as Eliza Doolittle." She describes her costar, Harrison, as being "cold and ungenerous" toward her.

At one point, Hart, the musical's director, dismissed the cast for 48 hours so he could work solely with Andrews. "By the end of the forty-eight hours, that good man had stripped my feelings bare, and disposed of my girlish inadequacy; he had molded, kneaded and helped me become the character of Eliza. He made her part of my soul. We were both exhausted."

Oh, how I wish she'd been in the film of My Fair Lady! I would love to have seen that performance. Andrews says she understood Warner Bros. need for a marquee name, which is why Audrey Hepburn got the role. But she obviously feels a twinge of regret, too. "In later years, I did wish that I had been able to record my performance somehow, somewhere, for posterity - or at least for my grandchildren."

By the end of the book, I thought, what a consummate professional, what a trouper. Andrews comes across as a warm and gracious person, and totally devoted to her art. Here's part of her description of the joy of performing on stage:

"When the orchestra swells to support your voice, when the melody is perfect and the words so right there could not possibly be any others, when a modulation occurs and lifts you to an even higher plateau, ... it is bliss. And that is the moment to share it. One senses the audience feeling it, too, and together you ride the ecstasy all the way home."

I hope Andrews is working on a sequel to Home. I'd love to hear about working on Mary Poppins, for which she won an Oscar. It's also been awhile since I've watched a lot of her movies, so a review is in order. And come to think of it, I don't believe I've ever listened to the original Broadway cast recording of My Fair Lady. I definitely need to do that now.

And just in case you're wondering, Andrews is far from retired. This month, she'll be in Vancouver filming the family oriented comedy Tooth Fairy.