#blake edwards

Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards photographed for The New York Times Magazine during the out-of-town tryouts of Victor/Victoria, 1995.

Few photographs tell a story as eloquently as this one. Taken while Victor/Victoria made its long and often turbulent journey from the rehearsal studio to Broadway, Andrews stands calm, luminous and composed in the foreground, while Edwards recedes quietly into shadow behind her. It unintentionally reflects the production itself: Blake Edwards endlessly rewriting and reshaping his first Broadway musical while Andrews carried much of its emotional and artistic weight. As Philip Weiss documented in his extraordinary New York Times Magazine profile, Return of the Punk Panther, she questioned scenes and gags with characteristic tact, quietly recognized when material wasn't landing, and supported both the production and her husband with remarkable professionalism, despite her mounting reservations on the quality of the material.

By the Chicago tryouts, the strain was already becoming evident. Jonathan Van Meter's Vanity Fair profile Victor/Victorious found Andrews carefully protecting a voice already taxed by months of rehearsals, previews and constant revisions; "'My voice is squeaking and I've got one-octave range" Andrews said after one preview, and indeed "Andrews's voice does seem small, and strained." Frustrated by one newly written number, she asked the orchestra simply to play it, remarking, "Let's listen to the music, because the lyrics are so bad." It was a rare glimpse beneath the legendary poise of one of Broadway's greatest stars.