Netflix Gives Julie Andrews Her First Leading Role in More Than 10 Years

June 2, 2016, 6:10 PM UTC
Dame Julie Andrews Media Conference
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 10: Dame Julie Andrews poses during a mdeia call for the Australian production of My Fair Lady at Sydney Opera House on November 10, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage)
Photo by Don Arnold—WireImage via Getty Images

It’s been more than a decade since Oscar winner Dame Julie Andrews has seen a starring role, but Netflix (NFLX) is changing that.

The actress and singer, who is best known for playing Maria in The Sound of Music and the title character in Mary Poppins, will be starring in a new series aimed at pre-school-aged kids, Vanity Fair reports. It will be her first leading role since 2004, when she played Queen Clarisse Renaldi in Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement—not the best movie by most standards, but a significant performance for Andrews who before that hadn’t sang on screen since her unfortunate vocal-cord surgery in 1997.

The Netflix series is called Julie’s Greenroom. It began filming last month, and is set to premier globally early next year. Andrews will star as Ms. Julie, the headmistress of a performing arts school attended by “a new generation of kids known as the ‘Greenies,'” who will be played by Jim Henson Company puppets.

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Andrews is an executive producer on the show and one of the co-creators. Her fellow co-creators include Emma Walton Hamilton, the children’s book author and Andrews’ daughter, and Judy Rothman-Rofé, who wrote the 1989 television adaptation of Madeline.

 

“Over the course of the seasons, with Ms. Julie’s guidance and inspiration from the visiting guest artists, the kids create an entirely original new show, that is a mashup of all the performing arts including mime, music, dance, improv, circus arts, voice and more,” Netflix writes in its press release. Guest stars will include big names such as Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, and Idina Menzel.

This show could be Netflix’s response to rival streaming service HBO, which signed a partnership deal last year that made it the exclusive streaming service for Sesame Street.