Dame Julie Andrews to host Great Performances
Dame Julie Andrews to succeed Cronkite on PBS
Photo: Evan Agostini
Julie Andrews is going from "The Sound of Music" to hosting one of music's biggest annual events
The 73-year-old actress is succeeding Walter Cronkite as anchor of the Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Day concert on PBS. Cronkite had been the narrator of the "Great Performances" telecast in the United States for the past 24 years.
"He is passing the baton this year and staying home with his family, and they asked me if I would do this special 25th anniversary program," Andrews said Wednesday during a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
The New Year's concert in Vienna — mostly waltzes, polkas and marches from the Strauss family — has an estimated worldwide TV audience exceeding 1 billion. Daniel Barenboim will conduct for the first time in 2009, and the concert is to be released on DVD by Decca Classics.
Andrews wasn't sure whether she will become a permanent replacement for the 92-year-old Cronkite, the retired CBS anchorman.
"I'm sure the format is pretty much the same," she said. "It's like a wonderful postcard tribute to Vienna and its surrounding areas and beautiful museums and castles. I'm sort of the glue that holds the whole evening together."
Andrews plans to fly to Vienna on Friday for the start of production. She has not been there since the early 1960s, when she visited the city while "The Sound of Music" was in production in Salzburg and other parts of Austria. The picture won an Academy Award for best picture, and Andrews was nominated for best actress for her portrayal of Maria von Trapp.
She thinks that, because of the movie, many people identify her with Austria.
"Certainly for me it has wonderful memories," she said. "It seemed to make a great deal sense that I accept the baton being passed from Mr. Cronkite."
Andrews, a fan of the music of Ravel, Prokofiev, Mozart, Brahms and the Strauss family, has never been to the Musikverein, the 138-year-old hall where the concert takes place.
"As much as I will be a hostess, I will also be a tourist," she said. "I just think it's a lovely tradition. It's something that makes everybody feel good. The great Strauss music is so enjoyable, it all seems to fit in with the happiness of the new year."
APNewsBreak:NEW YORK (AP)
By RONALD BLUM
Will Andre be a part of this?
Hi Bruce. No, Andre will not be in this, at least not this year. Hopefully sometime.
The New Years from Vienna, Vienna Philharmonic's annual New Year's Day is one of the most beautiful treats on television, in my humble opinion. Well worth watching and with Julie Andrews as host, I'm even more excited to see it.
Isn't there something ironic about this. The one who played Maria von Trapp returns to Austria, and the real Maria von Trapp returned to Austria just this fall. How fitting, and what an honor for Julia Andrews. I will have to have that dvd for sure. And Bruce,I don't think Andre has a part in this one, but wouldn't it be great if the two could possibly meet?
Andre has said The Sound of Music is my favorite. And it is mine as well. I love that movie.
I have read the books as well, and they are far different than the movies, yet they too are good. I even have a bio on the von Trapps. Very interesting.
Something I notice is Julie Andrews saying she finds the music of the Strauss family "So enjoyable".
(wondering will the 'critics' read that!!)
From the time I was a little girl, I have loved Julie Andrews. Her's is truly a voice of the ages. Absolutely Beautiful.
I can't wait to watch this show.
I always loved Julie Andrews, too and the Viennese New Years Concerts. Every Year we watched it in Germany on Now Years morning, it was always a Eurovision broadcast, over here I watched Cronkite with it, so certainly I will watch Julie Andrews. My love for the Viennese music does not come from André, but that is why I like him, too.
Inge, I always loved the Viennese music too,always thought the best good music came from Vienna.The waltzs, the polkas, you name it. My dad liked a group called the Schrammel Quartet, or what he called the Schrammel music. Used to have an old vinyl record, but must have gotten lost. I am going to order a cd called Music From Old Vienna, it seems to have some of the Schrammel music on it, waltzs, polkas and marches.So, not only do I love the classical from Vienna, also the folk type music also. On this New Years concert, we usually get it on our PBS station, but I think I will order the dvd when it becomes available.
Shirley, do you know Peter Alexander? He is a Viennese singer, he is older now, but he used to make movies in Germany and he always sang the Viennese Folksongs, also about the Schrammeln. My daughter sent me a double CD from him, called: "Verliebt in Wien" (in love with Vienna) the nicest Viennese songs and Heurigenlieder, Heurigen is the new vine but also the restraurant where you drink it. Altogether are 42 songs on it, I love to listen to it in his Viennese dialect and especially when I drive in my car.