As Michael Nouri puts it, “When I think of Julie Andrews I think of her voice and its purity.”In her opening number Andrews sounded a little tight, but by the end of Act 1 she was soaring She sang “Crazy World” using every note in her wide range She was strong and soulful with a little bit of hidden edge After the show she admitted to some early tension. It’s a shame that that didn’t extend to the jokes, which creak like an old Blackpool comedian. The audience must have been beamed in from 1961 and Andrews’ last appearance, because they laughed heartily The jokes, though, are not the point You come for Andrews and her voice. It’s about being who you really are.”The 1982 film was just a comedy, but this being the Nineties it must be given a PC spin. Of course, the handsome nightclub owner King Marchan (Michael Nouri) is smitten, and convinces himself Victor is a Victoria, if only to save himself embarrassment “The plot is a twist on a twist on a twist,” says Andrews “It’s not about homosexuality or being gay.

“My character is a bit of a loser,” explains Andrews on the phone the day before the opening “She’s been kicked out of her hotel and her job She’s facing starvation. Enter Toddy (Tony Roberts), who is gay and runs a bar which features transvestite shows. He persuades her to perform as a man.”This sets the stage for some cheap farce as Andrews impersonates a man impersonating a woman. All Nineties themes, but this production still has a Seventies air, as though the closet was still closed.

It’s a shame she didn’t return in something more original, but Broadway is a cautious place these days.Victor / Victoria is about transvestites and gender blending. Julie Andrews back on Broadway is something special – she made her debut in 1954 and last played here almost 34 years ago. I come to occasions.” That was Roger Moore and he was spot on. The crowd was just right for a story which was almost fresh when it was a movie in 1982.
“I don’t come to opening nights. Julie Andrews opened in Victor / Victoria yesterday and a certain class of older celebrity – such as Joan Collins and Lauren Bacall – was out in force. Which is fortunate, because now Broadway has three: Carol Channing (in Hello Dolly!), Carol Burnett (Moon Over Buffalo) and, now, Julie Andrews. O Broadway! The glitter and the glamour, and how they love a diva.

He could then reduce his role even further by letting Martyn Lewis present it. But let’s stick with overexposure: Angus Deayton is good news.n ‘In Search of Happiness’ is currently showing on BBC1, Sundays 10.10pm. With emphasis on the hopefully.”A tangential thought: to deal with the problem of overexposure, Deayton could merge his two current shows into Have I Got Happy News For You. “Basically, yes.” And while we’re on plainly absurd questions, would he like to sum up the world view of his comedy? “The Weltanschauung?” (Deayton read German at Oxford.) “I’m not sure I’ve got one really You mean some adjectives to describe it? Hopefully, funny. I’d be being hypocritical if I started selling stories to the newspapers.”It would be irresponsible not to ask if he himself is happy, suit or no suit. This is the first interview without copy approval he has done since the spilling of those beans by his ex. “So much of what I’ve said has been misquoted, or more often I’ve spent 90 minutes with a journalist and 85 of them have been spent talking as we have and five minutes talking about my personal life and that’s the only bit that is ever written about.” And his own silence is sacrosanct? “Yes.

Hearing his name mispronounced by BBC continuity announcers (rhymes with Eton) His private life ornamenting the tabloids. Would it be fair to say that it was the least enjoyable experience of the entire series? “It would be fair to say that it was the least enjoyable experience of my entire career.”So now we know what makes Deayton unhappy Paradise islands. In two days, he ate a great deal of goat and encountered, in the book’s memorable phrase, “a spider the size of an antelope”. Conventionally, only Sir David Attenborough enjoys the mirage of painless travel. Deayton would have much preferred to do the whole thing within drilling distance of the TalkBack offices off Tottenham Court Road in London, where there’s no fuss about “making sure the sand doesn’t get into the camera”.One sequence took a doubting Deayton to meet a man who for 30 years has lived the escapist cliche on a desert island off Australia.