November 17, 2015

Julie Andrews To Direct My Fair Lady Production At Sydney Opera House


                                                                   

                                                                   
                                                                   
The original Eliza Doolittle, Dame Julie Andrews, will direct a 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady at the Sydney Opera House.

The actress and musical theatre legend starred as Eliza Doolittle in the original Broadway production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's retelling of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion in 1956.

Andrews will be in Sydney later this year to start casting for the production.
"I am thrilled to have been asked to direct My Fair Lady at the Sydney Opera House in August 2016," she said in a statement.

"I look forward to coming to Sydney this November to cast the production and begin the process of bringing this great musical to life once again."

The Eliza Doolittle role in 1956 was Andrews' second part on Broadway, and her performance of Wouldn't It Be Loverly? and I Could Have Danced All Night launched her career. 

"To think that Broadway's original Eliza Doolittle, Julie Andrews, will direct our new production at the Sydney Opera House 60 years later will, I'm sure, excite both Australian and international audiences," theatre producer John Frost said.

                                                          
              

Frost and Opera Australia artistic director Lyndon Terracini will present the new production together at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Opera House next year.

"I am delighted and it is indeed a privilege to work with Dame Julie Andrews as she creates a new My Fair Lady that will capture the magic of the world's greatest musical for a new generation of classic musical lovers," Mr Terracini said.

The production is expected to bring more than 19,000 overnight visitors to Sydney and bring about $7 million into the NSW economy, according to the NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events, Stuart Ayres.

                                                                   


With many thanks to The ABC

When a movie was made of this show Audrey Hepburn took the role of "Eliza Doolittle".
Apparently there were no hard feelings about it from either women.


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