Will Julie Andrews or Maggie Smith ever return to the stage?

[TotallyEffed]

I would so love to see these magnificent women perform.

[RockyRoad]

Not going to Andrews. She said in an interview a few years ago that she would not ever be going back to the stage

[NoName3]

I read a rumor on another forum earlier today that LTC reached out to Julie Andrews about replacing Diana Rigg in MFL. Even if true, for whatever reason, it isn't happening. Again, just a rumor.

[quizking101]

We musn't forget that botched throat surgery during her run of VICTOR/VICTORIA about 20+ years really prevents Andrews from doing full singing engagements for extended periods (much different than a one-off song in a movie a la Princess Diaries). 

[uncageg]

I am assuming Andrews now could not do 8 shows a week after that surgery.

[fb1123]

I was lucky enough to have the privilege of seeing them both when they last appeared on a New York stage.

[UncleCharlie]

Julie Andrews is 82 and has well documented vocal problems and Maggie Smith is 83 and hasn't set foot on a stage in 11 years. I don't think the odds are in your favor. Not saying someone in their 80's can't do a show, just not seeing any indication either of them want to.

[geoffreyC]

I predict both will appear on the stage again before they make their final exits.  

[devonian.t]

Given serious ill-health in recent times, I very much doubt Dame Maggie will put herself through another stage engagement.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Angela Lansbury was 81 when she returned to Broadway in DEUCE, after an absence of 25 years. So I keep remaining hopeful that some of the other great ladies will return to the theater (Andrews, Smith, Carol Burnett, etc). Glenda Jackson might have the "Lansbury slot" of this decade (and maybe now Elaine May, too).

I wonder if Andrews is able to project enough for the theater after her botched nodes surgery, or if she'd have to be heavily amplified even in a play? I know she speak-sung a few concerts a couple years ago (with a lot of support from other Broadway vocalists). Because she directed MY FAIR LADY in Australia, and then the Lerner & Loewe estates chose to go with Sher's production for Broadway, I think it would be very unlikely to see her in this revival.

[NoName3]

Cathleen Nesbitt, who originated the role of Mrs. Higgins in My Fair Lady, returned for a New York revival in the part with Rex Harrison when she was 93. She had much earlier played "a lady" at the embassy ball in the 1938 film version of Pygmalion with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller.

[Wick3]

I think it depends on the role. I can see both legends come back on stage for a play but highly doubt it for a musical.
If this revival of My Fair Lady goes to London’s West End, I actually hope they ask Dame Maggie Smith to be Mrs. Higgins.

[GeorgeandDot]

Julie Andrews would be phenomenal in A Little Night Music and could bring something special to Madame A.

[SomethingPeculiar]

I wonder if Andrews was ever offered Sally in FOLLIES (in the 1985 concert version or in another revival)? She would have been 50 at the time of the live recording -- the perfect age, and still in good voice.

[Gorlois]

I think there’s a reason that Julie has only done movies and limited engagements on stage since then 1997 throat operation. I do not believe that her voice can handle 8 shows a week, even in a straight play.

Clearly she still has a soft spot for live theatre— she hosted the PBS mini-series on Broadway in 2005, she’s directed three stage musicals in recent years, and her Netflix series was all about the theatrical arts. I think if she could appear on Broadway again, she would, but her instrument has been damaged too much.

It would be much more likely that we would see her return to musicals on film, where the demands on her voice would be lesser— my dream project is Julie and Cate Blanchett in a new movie version of “A Little Night Music.”

[Mister Matt]

If Andrews returns, I hope she'll be more interesting than in Victor/Victoria. She was surprisingly lackluster (and not just her singing).

[Gorlois]

SomethingPeculiar said: "I wonder if Andrews was ever offered Sally in FOLLIES (in the 1985 concert version or in another revival)? She would have been 50 at the time of the live recording-- the perfect age, and still in good voice."

 

I think Julie is much more of a Phyllis than a Sally. She performed “Could I Leave You” in the original off-Broadway production of “Putting it Together.”

Although, I wish she could have recorded “Losing My Mind” before her throat operation.