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[0:11] Patrick Oliver Jones: Thirteen years after *Victor/Victoria* opened in cinemas nationwide, Julie Andrews was back on Broadway in a stage version of that movie, playing a female singer pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman. It was one of the most highly anticipated shows to open the 1995-96 season.

[0:33] ♪ Musical number: "I Spread Confusion" — performed by Julie Andrews ♪

[0:44] Patrick Oliver Jones: The production featured songs from the movie as well as new music by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse. And just like the movie, this production was written and directed by Andrews' husband, Blake Edwards. When *Victor/Victoria* opened at the Marquis Theatre, it ended a hiatus of 33 years since Andrews' last appearance on Broadway.

[1:07] Julie Andrews: The day we opened, I got very tearful. And I again I said to Blake, you know, I don't know why, but I'm feeling terribly nervous and tearful. And he looked at me and he said, well, did you expect to feel anything else tonight? Because it was a long time between shows, but the company and the delight of that show was it was a joy.

[1:44] Mark Hoebee: And in the ensemble was the yet-to-be Tony Award-winning director and choreographer, Casey Nicholaw, as well as Mark Hoebee and Darren Lee. It was really thrilling to be part of that show. It was such an amazingly talented group of people, and Julie was just a delight. You know, at the same time, you know, I by then I had been in a few other things, and so I knew that it wasn't amazing. I also knew that this show as a vehicle for Julie Andrews, it is more idealistic when it was closer to when she did the movie.

[2:17] Mark Hoebee: *Victor/Victoria* certainly faced its fair share of setbacks leading up to and during its time on Broadway. There were changes to the creative team and the untimely death of the composer and one of the orchestrators. There were the critical reviews and a controversy surrounding Tony nominations, as well as infighting and backstage squabbles that cast a shadow over the entire run of the musical. And then, of course, there were Andrews' own health issues that led to her departure from the show. Still, *Victor/Victoria* marked a notable comeback for one of the most respected and admired performers of all time.

[2:55] Patrick Oliver Jones: And in this episode, we'll explore how this show went from movie musical to Broadway musical, and once again highlight how even the most talented creatives and performers can struggle to produce magic on the Broadway stage. Welcome to *Closing Night*, a theater history podcast about famous and forgotten shows that close too soon. I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, and I'll be your guide in this first season as we go through the ups and downs of one of Broadway's youngest venues, the Marquis Theatre. These episodes will give a behind-the-scenes look at some of the shows that have come and gone from here and what led up to their closing night.

[3:49] Patrick Oliver Jones: Julie Andrews was known for her enchanting and family-friendly performances in movies like *Mary Poppins* and *The Sound of Music*. But by the 1970s and 80s, she began to broaden her choices when it came to character roles. There were burlesque strip teases, Hitchcock thrillers, topless scenes, and in 1982 she starred in *Victor/Victoria*, a movie musical that explored cross-dressing, drag performance, and even homosexuality, though not explicitly. It was written and directed by famed filmmaker Blake Edwards and was based on a 1933 German film called *Victor und Victoria*.

[4:44] Julie Andrews: I think really it's just a fabulous role, and I mean I'd be a fool to stay in a *Mary Poppins* orb *Sound of Music* image all my life. I think people would be bored with it, and I certainly would. And since I'm an actress, I'm really delighted to have different and varied roles to play, and *Victor/Victoria* is just a wonderful thing for any actress.

[5:06] Patrick Oliver Jones: Andrews' co-star Robert Preston was best known as the lovable scam artist Harold Hill in both the stage and screen versions of *The Music Man*. But for *Victor/Victoria*, he was playing a gay, middle-aged man who gets fired from his nightclub job. Now, both Andrews and Preston were nominated for Oscars for their performances, along with Edwards for Best Adapted Screenplay. But out of seven total nominations, the only Academy Award went to the venerable composer Henry Mancini and the lyricist Leslie Bricusse for Best Score, which only took them three weeks to write.

[5:49] Patrick Oliver Jones: According to the composer himself, the film was one of the most perfect pictures he'd ever done, and is one that he could watch again and again. But even though Mancini and critics enjoyed *Victor/Victoria*, its box office was rather modest and didn't even double its $15 million budget. Nonetheless, Blake Edwards saw a future for this show.

[6:13] Blake Edwards: When I originally did the film, I decided almost immediately that it was a good stage vehicle. And I kept obsessing on that all the time. But the bottom line is that I needed to do it for me. And I needed to do it for Julie, too.

[6:36] Patrick Oliver Jones: At one point, Andrews and Preston were asked to reprise their respective roles for the stage. But Preston pulled out, saying there was no way the musical could be profitable. But an actual stage musical did eventually begin to take shape years later, with the hope of starting rehearsals in early 1994. Lyricist Leslie Bricusse was a veteran at crafting stage musicals. But Edwards, on the other hand, had never directed or written for Broadway. Same goes for Henry Mancini, who had never composed music for the stage.

[7:11] Patrick Oliver Jones: So in late 1993, they wanted to test out some of the material they had written by putting on a rather elaborate presentation at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.

[7:24] ♪ Musical number: "What a Victory" — performed by the cast ♪

[8:40] Patrick Oliver Jones: Taking on the role of Carol Todd, played by Robert Preston in the movie, was longtime Broadway actor Tony Roberts. He had been in the original productions of *Barefoot in the Park*, *Promises, Promises*, and *Sugar*, along with many other plays and musicals. Prolific screen actor Michael Nouri portrayed James Garner's character in the film, King Marshall. And giving her best ditzy gangster girlfriend was Rachel York, who had performed in *Les Misérables* and *City of Angels*. She talked with CBS about her first encounter with Henry Mancini during the auditions.

[9:19] Rachel York: I was sitting around the piano, and the only song that I can really play is *Moon River*. So I started playing that, and he looks over to Blake and he says, "Hi her. She's good. I like this girl." You know, he was just great. He was so wonderful.

[9:33] Patrick Oliver Jones: One of the most significant setbacks for *Victor/Victoria* came in early 1994 with Mancini's sudden diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He was given just months to live. Yet Mancini continued to work on his first Broadway musical. And by the time of his passing in June of that year, he had written 25 new songs for the show. Eventually, Bricusse would ask Frank Wildhorn to come in and continue work on the score.

[10:04] Patrick Oliver Jones: Although, to be precise, Wildhorn was actually coming back to the show. At first, before the show opened, they had trouble getting rights to the Henry Mancini music, so Frank Wildhorn wrote an entirely new score that none of the movie music was in. And when the show was first cast, there was a big switch. Originally, it was Michael Smuin, I think, was choreographer, and then they cast the show, and then something happened, and then Rob Marshall came on and they recast the show.

[10:35] Mark Hoebee: This is Mark Hoebee, a swing in the show and dance captain as well. We also heard from him in our episode on *Nick and Nora*, and he's back with us once again. But originally they were going to go into rehearsal for New York with none of the film music because they couldn't get the rights. And then they got the rights, and then it became this hybrid version where Frank was writing some new stuff, and we still had, you know, the jazz hot and other things from the movie. But their goal wasn't to just recreate the movie. Mancini and Bricusse wrote new numbers, and Wildhorn was adapting some of Mancini's unfinished ideas into songs.

[11:13] Mark Hoebee: And what's interesting is that when Wildhorn would finish these new compositions, he would then record demo versions so the creatives could hear them. Okay, not so unusual. Except, of course, that it was none other than Linda Etter, his wife at the time, who would sing these new songs on the demo that were then to be sung by Julie Andrews.

[11:37] Patrick Oliver Jones: Oh, to have been in that room. Well, Edward was also adapting his screenplay for the stage and trying to incorporate new ideas that he hadn't put into the movie. Blake opened it up for the theater, and he wished very much. The one thing we did do that he was happy about, uh, Norma, the wonderful pop, he wrote in the show on Broadway, he wrote in that she asked me to dance, and because I was in front of the James Garner character, I decided to try to do it. And it the muddle of who who leads who when I'm really a girl and I'm trying to be a guy and all of that, and she keeps trying to touch me in slightly unmentionable places, and I'm just avoiding it by a second, and he wished he'd been able to do that in this film, and he he regretted that he hadn't thought of it until later.

But as you can imagine, there were just as many subtractions to the musical as there were additions. And once rehearsals began in New York at the end of March 1995, Andrews would use a body mic to save her voice and to keep from over singing, especially since songs and scenes were constantly changing or just being cut all together. And that's certainly one of the reasons why these producers and creatives, unlike Nick and Nora, made sure that the out-of-town tryouts were part of the process.

[13:11] Patrick Oliver Jones: And after the break, we'll ride along with Victor/Victoria as it goes on the road to Minneapolis and Chicago. The original plan for Victor/Victoria was to have a pre-Broadway run in Boston. But once that was canceled due to lack of funding, the producers short up the finances and lined up Minneapolis and Chicago to precede the show's opening at the Marquee Theater in the fall of 1995. However, rehearsals in New York leading up to the Minneapolis premiere were rather frantic and not as productive as they could have been. Running it in the studio so that you're routining it. He was used to getting it right on film and putting that in the can and then moving on, you never have to look at it again until you're editing it all together.

So that was the challenge. And when they left the rehearsal studio for Minneapolis, the show wasn't done. That meant that as they were teching the show, which took a long time because the set kept breaking down, they were also trying to finish the show. So that first preview in June of 1995 lasted more than three and a half hours, because there was a lot of extraneous material and they had never run the show altogether. And by opening night, Variety said, notwithstanding a solid dramatic, if not musical, performance from Julie Andrews, the show has a long way to go.

[14:53] Patrick Oliver Jones: So, after Minneapolis, the creatives made more changes to tighten the show and rework some numbers. For example, there was an opening number for Andrews called Victoria's Variations that introduced her character. And I remember in Chicago, like the third version of that song came in, and we were at the Schubert Theater and called in early one day, and it was one of the few times that I saw Julie not happy, and they played this new Victoria's variations, and she just stood up and said, When you write a song that is good enough for me to sing for my return to Broadway, then I'll come back to the theater and she left. She hadn't been on a Broadway stage in more than 30 years, so the nerves and expectations were certainly weighing on her.

But on a side note, Andrews was to be in good company that Broadway season, with Carol Burnett also returning to Broadway after 30 years to star in the play Moon Over Buffalo, and Carol Channing returning after 20 years to reprise her iconic role in Hello Dolly.

[16:07] Patrick Oliver Jones: But Victor/Victoria was different from those other productions in that the producer, director, writer, and husband of the star were all rolled up into one person. So swift and drastic changes could be made to the show. And so what wound up happening was Victoria's variations was cut, and they chopped off the first three scenes and just began the show at the top of scene four with a song called Paris by Night that was sung by Toddy in the Shea Louis Nightclub. But it wasn't just numbers being cut from the show. So when we were in Chicago, the same thing started to happen on Victor/Victoria as was happening on Nick and Nora, which leaks to the press, the show wasn't going well, and so we were all called on the carpet in this room at the Drake Hotel called the Blue Danube Broom.

And again, I knew by this time not to sit in the front row. I was way, way in the back. And Blake went off. Just was screaming bloody murder. Julie wasn't there. And they fired the stage manager, and they fired a couple of other people. They put them on flights back to New York, and we were like running. The show was running in Chicago. We were like, what is gonna happen? I remember leaving that room, and somebody got Blake and talked sense into him. And everybody who was fired that day in the Blue Damier room, came back and was on the show. Edwards was probably feeling the whole weight of this musical on his shoulders. Nonetheless, he offered his apologies and the show got back on track and finished out Chicago with somewhat hopeful criticism from the Chicago Tribune.

[17:48] Patrick Oliver Jones: It's not a classic. It needs work, and it suffers from problems in moving from screen to stage. But Victor/Victoria is a most enjoyable show. And with a little luck and some creative editing in the next few weeks, it should be well on its way to becoming a solid Broadway hit.

[18:09] Patrick Oliver Jones: When it comes to movies, it can be beneficial to have a singular figure at the top making all the final decisions. Whereas theater requires more collaboration and a different approach to both tell the story and improve it along the way. Choreographer Rob Marshall certainly understood this. He came from the theater, but he wasn't often allowed to take charge of scenes where Edwards could have used the help. Because even with two out-of-town runs, there was still work to be done on the show as previews began at the Marquee on October 3rd, 1995.

[18:46] Darren Lee: Darren Lee was a dancer and singer in some of the biggest numbers in the show. And he explains their preview process. And so it's really interesting. When you're in previews, you have very little time to honestly change that much because you have to tech everything. And sometimes you're doing an old number during the show at night, but then you're rehearsing a new one during the day, but it doesn't go in until they can tech it and all that kind of thing. So they tried to create a new number that we could utilize the same set and the same costumes, but had a different song.

[19:21] Patrick Oliver Jones: By the time the show opened on October 25th, Victor/Victoria contained five songs from the original film by Mancini and Bricusse, with six new compositions from Mancini and three new contributions from Wildhorn. As for Edwards, he kept in many of the iconic lines from the film, but streamlined the plot for the stage musical to allow a quicker and smoother journey to the eagerly anticipated jazz hot number sung by Andrews, who had a total of ten songs in the show.

[19:56] Patrick Oliver Jones: In fact, they recorded the opening night performance for what was to be a rare broadcast of a currently running Broadway show. It was first shown in Japan two months later and was eventually released on DVD in the U.S. Now that recording captured a show that had been through many changes on its way to Broadway. And some of those rewrites made sense to a certain degree.

[20:21] ⚠ About 3 minutes of audio could not be automatically transcribed.

[23:16] Patrick Oliver Jones: She wouldn't even go out or socialize much at all, and joked about how she really lived like a nun.

[23:24] Patrick Oliver Jones: But even with this daily routine, health issues began to crop up a few months into the run.

[23:31] Patrick Oliver Jones: One Saturday night in mid-January 1996, her understudy Anne Ronaldson stepped in during the second act as Julie came down with the flu, keeping her sidelined for a week.

[23:44] Patrick Oliver Jones: Then toward the end of February, Andrews was rushed to the hospital for an emergency gallbladder removal.

[23:51] Patrick Oliver Jones: And the corresponding declines in revenue and audience attendance for both of those absences underscored the obvious fact that she was the heart of the show.

[24:03] Patrick Oliver Jones: But those who stuck around for Andrews' understudy still got to see great performances from Ronaldson as well as Rachel York, who was delivering a star turn as the blonde bimbo mistress.

[24:16] Patrick Oliver Jones: The Chicago Tribune said that if they let her, York would probably steal the show.

[24:21] Patrick Oliver Jones: In fact, York won the Drama Desk Award in May for Outstanding Featured Actress, and Andrews took home the trophy for leading actress.

[24:31] Patrick Oliver Jones: But it was the Tony Awards that just wanted to spice things up, I guess.

[24:37] Patrick Oliver Jones: Shows that would go on to be recognized by the Drama Desk nominations and awards were noticeably absent from the Tony list.

[24:46] Patrick Oliver Jones: Namely, Victor/Victoria received only one single nomination, and that went to Julie Andrews for Best Actress.

[25:14] Darren Lee: The scenery was gorgeous, the costumes were fantastic. So there were absolutely wonderful, wonderful technical and design elements that were all overlooked, I think, because it was basically this general feeling of, well, it shouldn't be being done.

[25:28] Patrick Oliver Jones: As the New York Times put it, the 14-person Tony nominating committee seemed to be quote, declaring war on the kind of musical Victor/Victoria represents.

[25:55] Patrick Oliver Jones: The other two best musical nominees were also not based on movies, but they had actually closed relatively soon after opening and well before the Tony voting would begin.

[26:08] Patrick Oliver Jones: Still, looking back, we can see that 1996 was a pivotal year in the kind of shows Broadway would produce in the years to come.

[26:17] Patrick Oliver Jones: But at that time, it was hard to recognize this shift, and so the lack of nominations for the traditional musicals like Victor/Victoria, Big, and State Fair felt like a rebuke of what made Broadway Broadway.

[26:35] Patrick Oliver Jones: For Andrews, this was her third nomination for an award she had never won.

[26:41] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah.

[26:42] Patrick Oliver Jones: Julie Andrews has never won a Tony Award.

[26:45] Patrick Oliver Jones: So what should have been a celebratory occasion was instead seen as a disregard for the show's entire company.

[26:55] Patrick Oliver Jones: And on May 8th, 1996, just two days after the Tony nominations had been announced, the Broadway community, New York City news stations, and the National Syndicated Entertainment Shows had been tipped off, and were breathlessly awaiting what was going to be said at the curtain speech after that afternoon's matinee performance of Victor/Victoria.

[27:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: Here is what Julie Andrews said to that audience.

[27:24] Julie Andrews: The um the 1996 Tony Award nominations were announced on Monday, and I applaud all my fellow nominees, and I send them many, many congratulations. However, flattered as I am and honored to be also nominated, I have to say how deeply sad I am to be the only nominee in this extraordinary company.

[28:00] Julie Andrews: Is a collaboration between designers, choreographer, director, cast, and crew. An extremely happy and successful collaboration, which makes it especially sad that so many of my colleagues have been ignored by this year's nominating process. I could not have done this alone.

[28:57] Patrick Oliver Jones: She deserved it, right? She'd worked so hard, she was so good, she carried that show, and she didn't want it. She didn't want it in that way. She didn't need it. She would rather go down in history as you know, part of that family, the matriarch of that company, which she truly was.

[29:40] Patrick Oliver Jones: But her refusal set the stage for Donna Murphy to ultimately take home the leading actress prize for her performance in that year's King and I revival.

[29:50] Patrick Oliver Jones: Nathan Lane hosted the 50th Annual Tony Awards that year, where Victor/Victoria did not perform, nor did any of its actors attend.

[29:59] Patrick Oliver Jones: After the break, we'll go into the replacements put into the show, the backstage squabbles and health issues, and what led up to Julie Andrews' final performance in musical theater.

[30:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: While the drama of the Tony Awards was playing out in May of 1996, other awards organizations were more fully recognizing the efforts of the Victor/Victoria cast and crew.

[30:32] Patrick Oliver Jones: The previously mentioned Drama Desk Awards handed out four nominations to the show, with Andrews and York winning.

[30:39] Patrick Oliver Jones: The Outer Critics Circle named seven nominees, as once again Andrews won for Outstanding Actress and the whole show won for Outstanding Musical.

[30:50] Patrick Oliver Jones: And in a show of affection and solidarity, the stage hands at the Marquee Theater hung a giant replica of the Tony Award medallion by her dressing room door.

[31:01] Patrick Oliver Jones: But not everyone was in lockstep with Andrews's stand against the Tonys.

[31:30] Patrick Oliver Jones: Curtain.

[31:30] Patrick Oliver Jones: But the public obviously loved all the drama.

[31:34] Patrick Oliver Jones: The Bruhaha didn't hurt ticket sales, which jumped 30% after her refusal announcement, as well as after the Tony ceremony aired in June.

[31:44] Patrick Oliver Jones: But what did hurt audience attendance was Andrews's absence from the show, which was getting more and more frequent.

[31:53] Patrick Oliver Jones: In November, Julie Andrews took a two-week break from Victor/Victoria due to pneumonia.

[31:59] Patrick Oliver Jones: By the year's end, her vocal fatigue was so pronounced that it was decided that Liza Minnelli would fill in for a month to give Andrews a break.

[32:09] Patrick Oliver Jones: Liza acknowledged to Playbill that Andrews would have injured herself and done some long-range damage if she continued.

[32:16] Liza Minnelli: Quote, Julie would do the same for me, I know she would.

[32:21] Patrick Oliver Jones: However, the story goes that as they rehearsed Liza for six weeks, she wasn't always there for every rehearsal.

[32:30] Patrick Oliver Jones: Now some of this was due to prior concert engagements, while other absences, well, they weren't so planned.

[32:37] Patrick Oliver Jones: And when the big day arrived for her put-in with the whole cast and crew, Liza was a no-show.

[32:44] Patrick Oliver Jones: Turns out she felt unprepared and unsure of the material.

[32:49] Patrick Oliver Jones: But producer Tony Adams called her up and said that one way or the other, she was going in the show Tuesday, because Andrews' last show was Sunday.

[32:59] Patrick Oliver Jones: So they rallied everybody back to the theater after the Sunday's matinee, rehearsed with Liza all day Sunday night and all day Monday and Tuesday, basically spoon feeding her the entire show for her opening night.

[33:16] Patrick Oliver Jones: But she's a performer through and through, and her fans certainly came out to see her.

[33:22] Patrick Oliver Jones: As the New York Times put it, quote, it's the rawness as much as the polish that brings her admirers to the marquee.

[33:31] Patrick Oliver Jones: And Liza even got to sing a new song that was being put into the show, which had been planned before she was even brought on.

[33:39] Patrick Oliver Jones: And it was a new song with words and music by Leslie Bricusse called Who Can I Tell?

[33:49] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yes, Chine.

[34:07] Patrick Oliver Jones: And the ensemble was certainly excited to work with yet another legend of the stage.

[34:19] Darren Lee: She's an absolute star. She just exudes this amazing performance energy. Well, to sort of create that performance energy, she kind of absorbs it from all around her. And so off stage and like backstage and getting to the stage, it is insane. It's like a whirlwind tornado of like, oh my god, we're never gonna make it. How is it possible? And then she steps out on stage and she is calm as a cucumber and amazing, and everyone, like the ensemble behind her, is all like frazzled because they just got run over.

[34:57] Patrick Oliver Jones: But like, yeah, it's unbelievable. She like absorbs it like a tornado and then just goes out there and shines. However, not everyone was so starstruck by Liza, and that tornado of energy wasn't always welcomed by her co-stars, namely Tony Roberts, who was less than patient with her line struggles and creative harmonies. And there was one show where Tony Roberts had had enough. And in one scene, she stopped talking, walked off stage, and left him hanging. After that, Roberts said, I'll come back when Julie comes back. And according to the Chicago Tribune, he called out sick so as to not perform with her. And when he came back, then Liza called out sick, but not before receiving a standing ovation from the crowd after reading her doctor's orders from center stage.

She also called out sick for what was to be her final performance. And the New York Post reported that Minnelli wanted to return to the show when Andrews completed her contract in June of '97, but that she wanted Roberts out. For the record, though, both denied such a tiff between them ever occurred. So take from that what you want.

[36:15] Patrick Oliver Jones: Meanwhile, Andrews was having some peaceful time off at her home in Switzerland, taking leisurely walks and getting much needed rest and relaxation. And now there was a heated lawsuit filed by the show's producers against nine insurance companies. These insurers were refusing to cover losses totaling more than 1.6 million dollars that incurred during Andrews' various absences for influenza, gallbladder surgery, and larynx problems. One of the insurance companies contended that insufficient medical history disclosure was the culprit. In other words, accusing Andrews of not being honest about her past health problems. However, the legal representative for Victor/Victoria staunchly defended her by asserting that she did absolutely nothing wrong, and saying that they would prove that the insurers owed the money.

[37:30] Patrick Oliver Jones: Well, as her time with the Broadway production began to wind down, there was a national tour on the horizon, with Edwards and the show's producer asking Andrews to lead that effort. Now she said no at first, but after repeated requests, she eventually conceded. But they eventually patched things up, and just as Liza got to introduce a new song when she joined the show, Welch would also get a song called "I Guess It's Time," which had been cut from the show before it reached Broadway. As for her performance, though, theater critics were not so kind. Here's what Variety had to say. At best, a pleasantly passable singer, and at worst a singer who passes over melody. Welch does little to move this tired, star-driven musical beyond its own mediocrity. Long absent from the New York stage, Welch might initially draw old fans and the merely curious, but she had better do it fast. This show seems to be on its last sequined leg.

[39:13] Patrick Oliver Jones: Meanwhile, Andrews was enjoying her rest from the show and was finally able to address her vocal issues. She had gone to her throat specialist who discovered a cyst on her vocal cords, describing it like a blister filled with liquid. He told her that if he didn't make it right, she would not survive on the road. Andrews described what happened next to Barbara Walters. And since then, as you know and as everybody's been talking about, I've just been unable to sing. I think to some degree I'm in a form of denial about it because to not sing with an orchestra, to not be able to communicate through my voice, which I've done all my life, and not to be able to phrase lyrics and give people that kind of joy. So I am in some kind of denial.

[40:14] Patrick Oliver Jones: Edwards was asked about his wife's voice and was famously reported as having said, if you heard it, you'd weep. It's an absolute tragedy. To which Andrews agreed and felt the devastation of this experience on a deeper level than even she could fully handle. Three months after that Barbara Walters interview, while trying to cope with her inability to sing, she underwent grief therapy at Sierra Tucson, an Arizona rehab clinic noted for treating celebrity clients. A year later, she sued the doctor in hospital that took away her voice, which is certainly one proactive way to deal with that grief. They settled for an undisclosed amount, and she has spoken little on the subject since. But what she has spoken about are the various projects and books that she has worked on since Victor/Victoria, and how she's simply using her voice in different ways now.

[41:18] Patrick Oliver Jones: When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window. The Broadway production of Victor/Victoria only lasted another month and a half after Welch took over, closing on July 27, 1997, with 25 previews and 734 regular performances. Needless to say, that national tour went on without Andrews. Instead, it starred Tina Tanneil of the famous 1970s group Captain and Tennille. That tour, along with several subsequent productions, were directed by Mark Hoebee. You'll hear more from him about that tour in the next bonus episode of our full Victor/Victoria interview, along with my conversation with Darren Lee.

[42:10] Patrick Oliver Jones: As someone who has always considered myself a singer first and an actor second, it's been an interesting process to research and put together this episode. Chronicling such an iconic and legendary performer as Julie Andrews in her last stage production and final musical has brought on my own thoughts of what my voice has meant to me and what it has meant to rarely use it these last four years. I suppose every actor, dancer, singer has to grapple with who we are outside of the talents we bring to the stage. Just like Andrews, we all have to realize that our identity and value and worth are not just defined by what we do, but rather by who we are and who we strive to be.

[43:28] Patrick Oliver Jones: Closing Night is a production of WINMI Media. I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, host and executive producer. Dan Delgado is editor and producer, not only for this podcast, but also for his own movie podcast called The Industry. Theme music for Closing Night composed and created by Blake Stadnik and co-producer is Maria Clara Ribeiro. Be sure to join us for those bonus episodes with Mark and Darren as we talk more about how Victor/Victoria found its way to closing night.

[44:20] Patrick Oliver Jones: Oh come on, you really thought she was gonna show up. No, no, that's about as likely as the Pope showing up at Madonna's baby shower. Hello, I'm Nathan, I'll be your waiter. And welcome to the tabloid Tony's. Yes, who knew Broadway could elbow LaToya Jackson off the front page of the New York Post? Yes, the Tony Awards, the one night of the year when everyone in the theater puts aside their petty little differences, and sits down to read their subpoenas from David Merrick.

[45:06] Patrick Oliver Jones: This is the Tony Awards 50th anniversary, our golden jubilee. How do you solve a problem like the Tony's? Well, the real reason she can't be here is she's actually hosting that telethon for the egregiously overlooked. Yes. Worse than the heartbreak of psoriasis is the nightmare of being egregiously overlooked. And I ought to know, I used to be their poster boy. So if Julie wins tonight, her award will be accepted for her by a very grateful Susan Lucci. Of course, Julie was not the first person to withdraw her name from Tony contention. I did it last year, at least that's how I explain it to people now. You know, it was a very big year on Broadway, but I really can't tell you about it because we have to get off by 11. We're on CBS. They killed Angela Lansbury, and they can kill us. So off with the show.