#palladium

[postcardaday]

Palladium invitations from the early 1990s, part 1

[paralleljulieverse]

'Home in triumph!': Julie Andrews' Return to the London Palladium, 9-19 June 1976

Fifty years ago this month, Julie Andrews stepped onto the stage of the London Palladium for the opening night of a sold-out two-week concert season that generated extraordinary excitement and ushered in a period of renewed live performances for the legendary singer.

Widely promoted as Andrews’ first return to the London stage since My Fair Lady seventeen years earlier, there was a palpable sense of homecoming about the concerts.* As one newspaper quipped: "Fly the flag, Thoroughly British Julie is home in triumph" (Green, 1976: 8).

The fact that Julie's return was at the Palladium intensified the excitement. Popularly dubbed "the most famous variety theatre in the world," the Palladium was the London venue of choice for superstar headliners in the era (Woodward, 2009). Moreover, Julie had a long and storied association with the venerable theatre. It was on the stage of the Palladium that she captured the nation’s attention as a thirteen-year-old prodigy at the 1948 Royal Command Performance, becoming the youngest solo performer ever to appear before the King and Queen. Five years later she returned to star in Val Parnell’s lavish production of Cinderella. That engagement would change the course of her life. Among those in the audience was Broadway producer Cy Feuer, whose invitation to America eventually led to The Boy Friend, My Fair Lady and an international career beyond anything a young performer from Walton-on-Thames could have imagined. The symmetry was certainly not lost on Julie. "I am both nervous and terribly excited,” she admitted in advance of the concerts. “There's little to match the excitement of a live show and the challenge of being on stage...particularly as it was from the Palladium stage that I got my first break” (Hall, 1976: 1).

The opening night did not disappoint. "Julie Andrews had no sooner stepped on stage than the house rose to welcome her back after 17 years away," noted one newspaper report (Owen, 1976: 20). Another described the opening as "a love-in as much as a concert" (Green, 1976: 8). The packed house was filled with celebrities and show-business luminaries. Among those reported in attendance were Sir Lew Grade, Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Margaux Hemingway and tennis champion Jimmy Connors, while newspapers also noted the presence of numerous figures from Britain’s theatrical and television worlds (Beck, 1976: 31; 'Londoner's Diary,' 1976: 16). Reviews were enthusiastic, with critics praising not only Andrews' singing but the warmth, professionalism and natural ease with which she commanded the stage. The following extracts provide a representative sample of the show's fulsome reception across the British press:

Daily Express: "Julie Andrews, at 40 still looking every bit an ideal teenage daughter, became a charming conqueror last night..and the notoriously reserved Palladium first-nighters were with her" (Pearce, 1976: 12).

Daily Telegraph: "Cool and groomed for her Palladium experience...[Julie Andrews] demonstrates that she can summon up real feeling and express it with formidable technical battery: the voice secure, the diction crystalline, the octave leaps exact. A natural soprano swells and soars through...songs she created, songs a part of our lives now, some of the happiest songs of our time. She deserves her ovation" (Barber, 1976: 13).

Evening Standard: "She communicates a real sense of joy in her work that is highly infectious...There is a breath-taking moment when she sings...that bolts the shoulder blades to the back of you seat...Miss Andrews has only another 13 performances at the Palladium. They are not enough" (Owen, 1976: 20).

Daily Mail: "The voice is pure and the respect for lyrics tremendous...And by the time the curtain fell on her hour-long seemingly effortless jaunt down her personal memory lane, the ovation and flowers was worthy of Dietrich" (Tinker, 1976: 3).

Evening News: "When Throughly British Julie starts singing...[the] 17 years she has been away from the London stage are reduced to nothing...She stopped the town as a 12-year-old and...she retains the knack...[D]eservedly and inevitably, at the finale it was everybody up: cheers, applause, bouquets and hooray" (Green, 1976: 8).

The Guardian: "Julie Andrews last night came back to the Palladium...and to a reception where it looked as if anyone who declined to stand for her entrance was likely to get punched. How do you make sure no one feels let down when you return to the Palladium stage after 17 years? Miss Andrews handles it beautifully [with] a selection of songs that all, in so many words, told the audience how much she loved them" (Barker, 1976: 8).

Sunday People: "Soft and sweet, prim and pure -- but what a knock out Julie Andrews is, singing and story-telling her way into everyone's heart at the Palladium" (du Pre, 1976: 7).

The enthusiasm was not confined to Britain. Newspapers across the United States and elsewhere carried reports of the engagement, with one commentary declaring that "Julie Andrews' London Palladium opening last week was supercalifragilisticexpialidociously sensational!' (Beck, 1976: 31).

The only slight note of dissent came from Julie's most loyal -- but hard-to-please -- critic: mother Barbara. "Good performance," she reportedly said in Julie's dressing room after the show, "but you need one really wild comedy number" (Jeffery, 1976: 23). Commercially, the season was equally triumphant with Variety reporting the season had 98% capacity and a final gross of US$243, 000 (GBP137,200). Promoter Harold Fielding -- who himself had worked closely with Julie during her early years as a child performer -- remarked: "It took me 10 years to persuade Julie Andrews to return to the London stage...and if I could book her again next week, next month or next year I feel I would be doing myself a favour. She was obviously terrified of making the return, but is delighted with the reception she received" ('Julie Andrews grosses', 59) .**

The season concluded on 19 June after fourteen performances, having fully justified the anticipation that surrounded it. Half a century later, Julie Andrews’ 1976 Palladium season remains one of the defining concert events of her career. The Palladium engagement brought her back to the theatre that had helped launch her career at the very moment she stood at the height of her international fame. Few performers have enjoyed a more fitting homecoming.

Notes: * The claim was not strictly true as Julie had performed in London three years earlier in her 1973 Christmas concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Nevertheless, the Palladium concerts signalled her first sustained UK theatrical engagement in many years. ** As a trivia aside, when the Evening News ran a piece titled "The Tills aren't Alive" stating erroneously that Julie's Palladium season had not been a success, the producers successfully sued for libel with the newspaper forced to pay damages and issue a retraction that the "statements were unfounded and had no basis in fact" ('Libel damages', 1977: 9).

Sources

Barber, John. “Theatre: Julie Andrews Comes Back in Strength.” Daily Telegraph, 11 June 1976: 13.

Barker, Dennis. “Review: The Palladium.” The Guardian, 10 June 1976: 8.

Beck, Marilyn. “Julie Andrews’ London Palladium Opening Well Received by Crowd.” Houston Chronicle, 18 June 1976: 31.

du Pre, John. “At the Theatre.” Sunday People, 13 June 1976: 7.

Evans, Peter. “How Mary Poppins Went to Pot.” Sunday Mirror, 6 June 1976: 34–35.

Green, James. “It’s Thoroughly British Julie.” Evening News, 10 June 1976: 8.

Hall, William. “Bing and Julie for Palladium.” Evening News, 31 March 1976: 1.

Jeffery, Fran. “One Fan Julie Has to Please.” Sunday People, 20 June 1976: 23.

“Julie Andrews Grosses 243G at London Palladium.” Variety, 30 June 1976: 58.

“Libel Damages for Julie Andrews.” Evening News, 8 March 1977: 9.

“Londoner’s Diary.” Evening Standard, 10 June 1976: 16.

Owen, Michael. “Review: Palladium.” Evening Standard, 10 June 1976: 20.

Pearce, Garth. “The Sound of Julie’s Music Is as Cool and Charming as Ever.” Daily Express, 10 June 1976: 12.

Tinker, Jack. “High Camp Julie Lets Her Hair Down.” Daily Mail, 10 June 1976: 3.

Wolff, William. “In Town: The Tills Aren’t Alive.” Evening News, 21 June 1976: 11.

Woodward, Chris. The London Palladium: The Story of the Theatre and Its Stars. London: Jeremy Mills Publishing, 2009.

© 2026, Brett Farmer. All Rights Reserved.

[twixnmix]

Keith Haring attending the Pro-Peace benefit for the Great Peace March at the Palladium nightclub in New York City on January 18, 1986.

Photos by Ron Galella

[sonnettheseacoat]

a little late, but happy pride month! :D

[hattonbullion]

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[rwatimes]

Palladium Network Focus: Smart Capital Rotates From Speculation To Infrastructure And Real-World Assets

Palladium Network Focus: Smart Capital Rotates From Speculation To Infrastructure And Real-World Assets

➤ Sophisticated investors are shifting capital from speculative cryptocurrencies towards foundational assets like Bitcoin, stablecoins, and tokenization infrastructure, signaling a maturation of the digital asset market. ➤ The XRP Ledger has surpassed $4 billion in Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization, indicating its growing prominence as a platform for tokenizing traditional finance assets. ➤ The article also discusses the impact of U.S. tariffs on Russian palladium and the increasing strategic investment in critical minerals like gold, copper, and rare earths due to supply chain diversification needs.

[rastronomicals]

9:15 PM EDT May 23, 2026:

Weather Report - “Palladium” From the album Heavy Weather (March 1977)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

I’ll be honest: though I’ve never bothered to delete it from my iTunes, this is not my favorite record. One of the problems is that it is a small case of false advertising: the album is not heavy at all.

Another one is that Jaco Pastorius’ bassplaying appears to be much more restrained than that, for example, which he contributed to Joni Mitchell’s records. Nothing at all against Ms. Mitchell, but why should that be?

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  <500x500>

[strutterspeaks]