ONE of the most celebrated stars of screen and stage, Dame Julie Andrews has been confirmed to direct a new production of Lerner and Loewe’s musical masterpiece My Fair Lady.
Presented by Opera Australia artistic director Lyndon Terracini and theatre producer John Frost the new production of an old favourite will be staged at the Sydney Opera House in 2016, in celebration of the work’s 60th anniversary.
Dame Julie played the musical’s heroine Eliza Doolittle in the 1956 Broadway production.
It was a role that propelled her to fame and launched a soaring film career that included The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins.
Terracini and Frost have also secured the services of Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Gattelli.
“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,” Frost said.
My Fair Lady is based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and tells the Cinderella story of Eliza Doolittle as she transforms from Cockney flower girl into a lady of society.
Its famed soundtrack includes Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?, On The Street Where You Live and I Could Have Danced All Night.
The musical’s premiere has been secured exclusively for Sydney by the NSW Government through Destination NSW and is expected to attract 19,000 overnight visitors to Sydney.
My Fair Lady will open at the Sydney Opera House in August 2016.
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