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You've seen @JulieAndrews in "Mary Poppins" and "My Fair Lady," but here's your chance to see her @ChicagoTheatre for An Evening of Conversation. Tickets for December 10 are on sale now! https://t.co/UniUREEioV pic.twitter.com/bnlf2gGHZS
— The Chicago Theatre (@ChicagoTheatre) July 25, 2019
I have added the dates for the announced events, will add more if/when they are announced
One wonders how Barbara Bush would react to the news. The mother-daughter team of Oscar-winning actress, singer and author Julie Andrews, and her daughter and co-author, Emma Walton Hamilton, will visit to Houston this fall to honor the former first lady legacy.
The pair will share their stories and experiences at the fourth annual Power of Literacy Luncheon, Friday, October 25 at The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown.
Chaired by Lilly Andress and Vicki West, Andrews and Hamilton will participate in a moderated conversation as part of the program. Since its inception, the Ladies for Literacy Guild has raised nearly $1 million through the Power of Literacy Luncheons to fund local literacy initiatives.
“I am beyond excited for Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton to join us at this special event that helps champion Barbara Bush’s literacy legacy,” said Maria Bush, co-chair, Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation. “Julie has been an idol of mine since I was a child, and this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in the presence of someone who has enriched our lives through all of her many talents on stage, on screen, and on television–to the many books she has authored.”
Julie Andrews is famous for her roles as Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp in the iconic film The Sound of Music. Her career spans generations, from her beginnings in England’s vaudeville acts, to originating the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, to her roles in The Princess Diaries and the voices of Queen Lillian in the Shrek movies and Marlene, Gru’s mum in the Despicable Me and Minion franchises.
She and her daughter, Emma, are the authors of more than 30 children’s books, many of which have been New York Times best-sellers. Their latest franchise of books together, The Very Fairy Princess, is a 12-book series. The first book rose to No.1 on the New York Times Children’s Best Seller list. Andrews and Hamilton are Grammy Award winners in the spoken word category.
“Emma and I are pleased to join the Foundation at this spectacular event as part of my world book tour,” said Andrews in a statement. “Reading and writing has played a significant part in both my professional career and my personal life for many, many years. Through our writings and stories, Emma and I strive to not only entertain readers, but also to inspire them to dream big in life.”
Andrews will release the second installment of her biography written with Hamilton, called Home Work – A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, on October 15. The book is a follow-up to her critically acclaimed and bestselling memoir, Home – A Memoir of My Early Years, and picks up her story with her arrival in Hollywood, sharing the career highlights, personal experiences, and reflections behind career.
In addition to the annual luncheon Ladies for Literacy Guild activities include funding the 30-foot Curiosity Cruiser mobile library, and creating children’s libraries in the New Hope Housing – Reed and Mission of Yahweh shelter, as well as promoting family literacy programs at Santa Maria Hostel. The guild is currently upfitting a second Curiosity Cruiser to serve low income children across Harris County.
http://houston.culturemap.com/news/society/04-25-19-hollywood-legend-hits-houston-to-honor-former-first-lady-barbara-bushs-legacy/?fbclid=IwAR3zk7ANsLURFrCwDEf_xWlK9JEeGAVJVlERak3as0NK5LCaU9B3MimK3zA
In this follow-up to her critically acclaimed and bestselling memoir Home, the enchanting Julie Andrews picks up her story with her arrival in Hollywood, sharing the career highlights, personal experiences, and reflections behind her astonishing career, including such classics as Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Victor/Victoria and many others.
In Home, the number one New York Times international bestseller, Julie Andrews recounted her difficult childhood and her emergence as an acclaimed singer and performer on the stage. In her new memoir, Home Work, Julie picks up the story with her arrival in Hollywood and her astonishing rise to fame as two of her early films — Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music — brought her instant and enormous success, including an Oscar. It was the beginning of a career that would make Julie Andrews an icon to millions the world over.
In Home Work, Julie describes her years in Hollywood-from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. Not only does she detail her work in now-classic films and her collaborations with giants of cinema and television; she also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world, dealing with the demands of unimaginable success, being a new mother, moving on from her first marriage, embracing two step-children, adopting two more children, and falling in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films, culminating in Victor/Victoria, the gender-bending comedy that garnered multiple Oscar nominations.
Told with her trademark charm and candor, Home Work takes us on a rare and intimate journey into an astonishing life that is funny, heartbreaking, and inspiring.
Released in UK September 5 2019
Released in US October 15 2019
Also out as audio book!
Will be posting more news when we hear it.
WE HAVE grown accustomed to her face. Accustomed to the blossom in her cheeks, the bluish twinkle in her eyes.
But Dame Julie Andrews still has the sort of star power no amount of familiarity can erase.
Slipping into her seat at the opening of My Fair Lady in Brisbane, wearing dark glasses, the beloved stage and screen star was easily spotted. And, as the lights dimmed ahead of the overture, ripples of applause swelled into a tsunami of affection.
A sustained roar that had the original Eliza Doolittle — not to mention Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp — standing briefly and waving back with embarrassed thanks.
“Goodness me, what an ovation,’’ the 81-year-old says the morning after.
But Andrews — directing an Australian revival of Lerner and Loewe’s classic Broadway musical — is quick to swivel the spotlight.
“This Australian company, they work so hard and give me everything I could possibly ask for,’’ she says. “I think of them almost as my second family.’’
Andrews — sauntering into a hotel anteroom in floral jacket, black slacks and suede shoes — seems especially taken with Anna O’Byrne, the Melbourne singer (Love Never Dies) cast as Eliza in her acclaimed 60th anniversary production.
“Anna is wonderful,’’ she says. “Her voice is gorgeous and she’s finding things in the role that I’m thrilled about, things I would never have thought of.’’
Andrews was only 20, with just one big show under her belt (The Boyfriend), when she landed the coveted role of Eliza opposite Rex Harrison’s Professor Henry Higgins. They were the toast of Broadway after My Fair Lady opened in New York on March 15, 1956. Audiences seeing the show on London’s West End were just as ecstatic.
“I did My Fair Lady for almost 3½ years, eight performances a week,’’ Andrews recalls. “It was a marathon.’’
No archival record remains of that astounding production. Eliza — the Covent Garden flower seller transformed from a “squashed cabbage leaf’’ into an English rose — was defined instead by Audrey Hepburn in the Oscar-winning 1964 Hollywood movie My Fair Lady.
Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
“Audrey and I became good friends and one day she said to me, ‘Julie, you should have done the role (on screen) … but I didn’t have the guts to turn it down’,” Andrews says. “In fact, that’s not the reason I didn’t do it. Not because Audrey wanted it but because I wasn’t known at that time. On Broadway I was known but they (Hollywood producers) wanted a huge box-office name.’’
Julie Andrews book signing at the Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse, La Canada. (Photo by Ed Hamilton / Feb 11 2013)
By Jason KUROSU
Famed actress Julie Andrews, known primarily as the star of films such as “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music,” has also been an established children’s author for years, with over 20 books co-authored with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton.
Andrews recently published the fourth book of her Very Fairy Princess Series, titled “The Very Fairy Princess Follows Her Heart,” a continuation of the exploits of the title character, Geraldine, who deals with a very timely Valentine’s Day predicament in this latest book. To the delight of local admirers, Andrews appeared in La Cañada to meet with fans and sign copies of the new book.
The Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse sold 200 copies of the book, but many more showed up on Monday night to see Andrews. Lines snaked around the bookshelves, with excited customers bearing stickers numbered one through two hundred.
No. 36, Marian Radcliffe from La Crescenta, mentioned her excitement upon hearing Julie Andrews would make an appearance in town.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard she would be here,” said Radcliffe, who purchased her copy of the book the previous Thursday.
No. 66, Sylvia Kast of La Cañada, another longtime fan of Andrews’, said she didn’t know Andrews wrote books before hearing of the book signing.
“I’m a fan of her movies and her musicals, but I didn’t know she was writing.” Kast also admitted she didn’t know what she would say to Andrews when she met her.
“I think what I want to say to her is I grew up with her and it’s so nice to finally see her in person. It’s really exciting,” she said.
No. 28, Anita Prins of Pasadena, said she found out about the book signing by chance one day while browsing through the bookstore.
“I’m a big fan of her song ‘Eye of Confidence’ from ‘The Sound of Music,’ so I thought it’d be great to meet her.”
The fans met Andrews in groups of 25, after the anticipation and completion of the labyrinthine journey around the bookstore.
A pair of fans, who wished to remain anonymous, were elated to meet Andrews as both longtime admirers and countrywomen.
“In 1964, when we first moved here, was the year she did ‘Mary Poppins.’ We were homesick for England, so it was great that she happened to be here,” said one.
The Englishwomen not only had their books signed, but were able to ask Andrews a burning question regarding her tea of choice. (It’s PG Tips.)
