Julie Andrews
If Andrews became a star via Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady and Camelot, she became an even bigger one by way of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. She discharges the latter debt with a voice almost as pure as when it first echoed through the Alps some 30 years ago and with a crystalline diction that would do Professor Higgins proud.
That said, let's get what bad news there is out of the way quickly. The orchestrations are sometimes too lush and gooey, and Andrews occasionally pushes too hard. In an otherwise fine medley embracing such shows as Oklahoma! and South Pacific, she turns "This Nearly Was Mine" from a song of thwarted love into a hymn to self-indulgence and ear-piercing excess.
The good news: Andrews sings only two songs from the overexposed The Sound of Music. There is, instead, a fetching "Bewitched" and "Nobody Told Me," a lovely, little-known ballad from No Strings, Rodgers' only solo Broadway endeavor.
Andrews was due to open on the Great White Way this spring in the musical version of Victor/Victoria, but due to financial problems with the show's backers, that was recently postponed until fall. In the meantime, fortunately, there is Julie Andrews—Broadway: The Music of Richard Rodgers. (Philips)
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