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Culture Musicals

Julie Madly Deeply

JULIE MADLY DEEPLY by Sarah-Louise Young (Mirvish). At the Panasonic (651 Yonge). In rep with The Boy With Tape On His Face to October 19. $25-$79. 416-872-1212. See listings. Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN

Even if your knowledge of Julie Andrews comes from childhood viewings of The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins, you’ll adore Sarah-Louise Young‘s 90-minute song-filled show.

Equal parts history lesson and fan tribute, it’s full of love and respect for one of the greats of musical theatre.

After a lively piano medley by musical director Michael Roulston, whose role is much more than accompanist, Young launches into a story about seeing Andrews at the 2010 O2 Arena concert. Billed as a comeback, that show was critically panned (this was Andrews after she lost her singing voice due to surgery), but Young, a noted cabaret performer, was moved.

She revisits that concert at the end in a series of touching numbers. In between she takes you through Andrews’s life and career, capturing her pristine tone and distinct diction. There are also impressions of Liza Minnelli (who took over from Andrews in Broadway’s Victor/Victoria), Audrey Hepburn and others.

Throughout Young and Roulston use songs in novel ways: the famous Ascot scene from My Fair Lady, for instance, becomes a swift way to track Andrews’s adolescent career.

And besides the mainstream hits, there are some great lesser-known works, including a brittle Sondheim number from Follies. (A song list would have helped.)

Young is a lively, chatty guide, filling us in on trivia, querying the audience and occasionally adding perspective, as when she asks us to imagine performing, as Andrews did, in 2,000-seat theatres before the age of stage mics.

At 90 minutes, including an interval, the show feels a little padded. But Young is such a present, vibrant performer and her affection for Andrews so sincere that you won’t notice.

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