Julie Andrews
1954–1962: Broadway debut and breakthrough

On 30 September 1954, the eve of her 19th birthday, Andrews made her Broadway debut as Polly Browne in the London musical The Boy Friend. Andrews was recommended to director Vida Hope for the part by actress Hattie Jacques, whom Andrews regards as a "catalyst" for her career. Eve Benda recognised her special talent and predicted her stardom. Andrews was anxious about moving to New York; at the time, she was both breadwinner and caretaker for her family, and took the part upon her father's encouragement. She stated that at the time, she had "no idea" how to research a role or study a script, and cites Cy Feuer 's direction as being "phenomenal". The Boy Friend became a hit, with Andrews receiving praise; critics called her the stand-out of the show. In 1955, Andrews signed to appear with Bing Crosby in the television film, High Tor. It filmed in November 1955 in Los Angeles and was Andrews's first screen project, which she described as "daunting". High Tor was televised the following March before a live audience for the Ford Star Jubilee, receiving lukewarm reviews.

Near the end of her one-year run with The Boy Friend, Andrews was approached to audition to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe for the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. She was offered the part during her third reading. She later wrote that she felt she could "be Eliza, could find and understand her" if only someone were to "gently unravel the knotted... string inside my stomach".

During rehearsals, director Moss Hart spent forty-eight consecutive hours solely with Andrews, where they "hammered through each scene"; Andrews later stated that "the good man had stripped feelings bare... moulded, kneaded, and helped become the character of Eliza... her part of soul". Andrews referred it as the best acting lesson she had ever received, later cementing the role with her "own touches and flourishes" and continuing to work on the character throughout her two-year run. On 15 March 1956, My Fair Lady opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. The play was a huge success with both the audience and critics, though soon after opening she learned she needed to tone down her learned cockney accent so that the American audience could understand her, a change which was reversed at the West End performance a year later. Andrews describes her performances as Eliza as "the great learning period" of her life.

Richard Rodgers was so impressed with Andrews's talent that concurrent with her run in My Fair Lady she was featured in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical Cinderella, which was written especially for her. Cinderella was broadcast live on CBS on 31 March 1957 under the musical direction of Alfredo Antonini and had an estimated 107 million viewers. The show was broadcast live in colour from CBS Studio 72, at Broadway and 81st Street in New York: CBS' only East Coast colour studio. Andrews was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role. She described the performance as "incredibly hard" and stated it took her "years to realise the enormity" of the production. In 1957, Andrews released her debut solo album, The Lass with the Delicate Air, which harked back to her British music hall days. The album includes performances of English folk songs as well as the World War II anthem, " London Pride ", a patriotic song written by Noël Coward in 1941 during the Blitz, which Andrews herself had survived.

Between 1956 and 1962, Andrews guest-starred on The Ed Sullivan Show (15 July 1956), and also appeared on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, What's My Line?, The Jack Benny Program, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Garry Moore Show. In June 1962, Andrews co-starred in Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, a CBS special with Carol Burnett. In 1960, Lerner and Loewe again cast her in a period musical as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, along with Richard Burton (as King Arthur) and newcomer Robert Goulet. Andrews called the work "monumental" due to the heavy set costuming and detailed literary themes. Camelot premiered at the Majestic Theatre to "adequate" reviews, which Andrews credited to off-set production issues and comparisons to My Fair Lady. The musical was substantially revised both before and during the show's Broadway run.

Casting for the film adaptation of My Fair Lady began in 1962; Jay Lerner hoped for Andrews to reprise her role, but Warner Brothers studio head Jack Warner decided Andrews lacked sufficient name recognition; the part was played by the established film actress Audrey Hepburn, with the bulk of the singing dubbed by Marni Nixon. As Warner later recalled that the decision was made for financial purposes, stating, "In my business, I have to know who brings people and their money to a cinema box office. Audrey Hepburn had never made a financial flop." Andrews later reflected that she understood her experience on Broadway "was within a very small pond" but wished she had been able to record her performance for posterity.
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