My Fair Lady’s first Eliza tells Australia why she’s recreating the show 60 years on.

If there’s one thing to be gleaned from the first press conference ahead of Dame Julie Andrews’ much-anticipated 2016 staging of My Fair Lady, it’s that here is a star turn who has the power to make grown men, if not cry, then most definitely gush. A parade of ministers and magnates took to the stage ahead of the Broadway icon today to tell us what an honour, privilege and pleasure it is to have Dame Julie in Sydney, and as the 80-year-old singer, actor, writer and director duly appeared, it’s fair to say that few in the packed Opera House foyer would have disagreed. For Andrews has that rare quality, coming over as funny, honest, thoughtful and self-deprecating all at once. And there’s something undeniably sincere about her observations as well as her manner.

Of course, she’s actually here in Sydney to work. A gruelling audition process is underway to find the company for what will be the 60th anniversary production of the show. The original opened on Broadway in 1956 and went on to transform what many thought was possible in the...