Julie Andrews to host New Year’s Day concert

Julie Andrews to host New Year’s Day concert

NEW YORK — Julie Andrews is going from “The Sound of Music” to hosting one of music’s biggest annual events.

The 73-year-old actress is succeeding Walter Cronkite as anchor of the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual New Year’s Day concert on PBS. Cronkite had been the narrator of the “Great Performances” telecast in the United States for the past 24 years.

“He is passing the baton this year and staying home with his family, and they asked me if I would do this special 25th anniversary program,” Andrews said in an interview.

The New Year’s concert in Vienna — mostly waltzes, polkas and marches from the Strauss family — has an estimated worldwide TV audience exceeding 1 billion.

Fonda back on Broadway

NEW YORK — The date for Jane Fonda’s return to Broadway after an absence of more than four decades has been set.

The actress will open March 9 in “33 Variations,” a drama written and directed by Moises Kaufman. The play concerns a musicologist (played by Fonda) and her study of Beethoven’s fascination with a particular piece of music.

Preview performances begin Feb. 9 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre for a 15-week run through May 24. Fonda was last on Broadway in 1963 in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Strange Interlude.”

Beyonc joins Essence Fest

NEW ORLEANS — Beyonc is the first artist lined up for next year’s Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

The July event will mark the 15th anniversary of the celebration of black music and culture. The festival will include more than 12 musical acts a day. Performers at the last event included Mary J. Blige and LL Cool J.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Eli Wallach is 93. Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne of the Osborne Brothers is 77. Actress Ellen Burstyn is 76. Country singer Gary Morris is 60. Singer Tom Waits is 59. Actress Priscilla Barnes (“Three’s Company”) is 53. Announcer Edd Hall (“The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”) is 50. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 42. Singer Nicole Appleton of All Saints is 33. Actress Shiri Appleby (“Roswell”) is 30. Singer Sara Bareilles is 29. Singer Aaron Carter is 21.