In 1962, Carol Burnett was one of America's fastest-rising comedy stars, having reigned on Broadway as a brassy princess in Once Upon a Mattress and endeared herself to the rest of America as a regular on The Garry Moore Show. Julie Andrews shared a stage pedigree with Burnett, a performer since childhood and the originator of iconic roles in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's My Fair Lady and Camelot.  When Andrews teamed with Burnett as a guest on Moore's program, the chemistry was all too evident.  Burnett told Good Housekeeping in 1963: "In the first five minutes of rehearsal, as eyewitnesses have since reported, it became quite clear to the whole company that one of those things was happening on stage that 'ardly ever 'appens between two female performers. There was no jealousy, no upstaging, no competition. Whether it' sour chemistry or simply that we're the same kind of nut - as Lou [Wilson, Andrews' then-manager] said that night - we seem to be at our best in each other's company.  The next morning everybody was on the phone persuading us to do a one-hour TV special, which eventually (in June, 1962) became Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall."  The soundtrack to the special was released by Columbia Records, and briefly saw CD issue in 1989.  Come April 3, Masterworks Broadway will celebrate 50 years of the program's debut with the new release The CBS Television Specials: Live at Carnegie Hall/Live at Lincoln Center, uniting the original 1962 special and the duo's 1971 follow-up on 2 CDs.

Produced by Bob Banner and directed by Burnett's future husband Joe Hamilton, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall also enlisted the services of Mike Nichols as writer, and orchestrator Irwin Kostal (West Side Story, Mary Poppins) as musical director.  Nichols' "hilarious hand" was singled out by Billboard in its review of the "scintillating" show.  The musical material was diverse, from Frank Loesser's "Big D" from his musical The Most Happy Fella to the old English folk song "Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be."  The centerpiece was a lengthy duet "History of Musical Comedy" beginning with 1910's long-forgotten Madame Sherry and going straight through Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' 1957 West Side Story.  My Fair Lady was briefly addressed with "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"  But perhaps the most prescient piece of special material was a little spoof called "From Switzerland: The Pratt Family," gently satirizing the Von Trapp Family Singers.  Could Andrews have ever imagined that she would be stepping into Maria Von Trapp's shoes just a couple years later?  Julie and Carol originally aired on CBS the evening of June 11, 1962, and the following year picked up the 1963 Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music.  Burnett also picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series for her work both in the special and her own An Evening with Carol Burnett.

Hit the jump for the scoop on Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center, plus the full track listing and pre-order link for the new CD!

Andrews and Burnett moved a few blocks north and west in Manhattan, taking the stage at Lincoln Center's Philharmonic (now Avery Fisher) Hall for their December 7, 1971 "sequel" Live at Lincoln Center.  Much had changed in the ensuing years.  Andrews was now a bona fide Hollywood superstar thanks to Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, and Burnett redefining the television variety show week in and week out with The Carol Burnett Show, also on CBS.  For Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center, the stars worked with writers Bob Ellison and Marty Farrell as well as Burnett's longtime friends Ken and Mitzi Welch, with the show directed by Dave Powers.  Having successfully surveyed the musical comedy canon in the earlier special, Andrews and Burnett devoted their latest lengthy medley (46 songs!) to the best of the 1960s.  And so if you ever wanted to hear Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett sing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Spinning Wheel," "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?" or "Aquarius" (the latter, of course, from the musical Hair!), here's your chance!  The rest of the material was typically eclectic, including the 1905 popular hit "Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie," the subject of a running joke on the program, and one more Fair Lady tune, "I Could Have Danced All Night."  Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center was rewarded with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Musical.

Andrews and Burnett teamed up one last time (to date!) in 1989 with Together Again, this time for ABC.  Thanks to Masterworks Broadway, the soundtracks to their first two joint forays can both finally be enjoyed together on CD.  This specially-priced 2-CD set marks the CD premiere of Lincoln Center.  The CBS Television Specials can be ordered now directly from Masterworks Broadway and will ship on or before April 3.  An Amazon order link can also be found below!  Like its companion release of Liza Minnelli's Live at the Winter Garden, The CBS Television Specials will be made available to general retail on May 8.

Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett, The CBS Television Specials: Live at Carnegie Hall/Live at Lincoln Center (Masterworks Broadway, 2012)

1. No Mozart Tonight
2. You're So London
3. Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be
4. From Russia: The Nausiev Ballet
5. Meantime
6. From Switzerland: The Pratt Family
7. History of Musical Comedy:
   Every Little Movement Has a Meaning All Its Own [Madame Sherry]
   Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life [Naughty Marietta]
   Tramp, Tramp, Tramp [Naughty Marietta]
   Look for the Silver Lining [Zip Goes a Million]
   Limehouse Blues [A to Z]
   Funny Face [Funny Face]
   Fidgety Feet [Oh, Kay!]
   'S Wonderful [Funny Face]
   This Is My Lucky Day [George White's Scandals of 1926]
   Hallelujah! [Hit the Deck]
   Why Was I Born? [Sweet Adeline]
   Don't Ever Leave Me [Sweet Adeline]
   Dancing in the Dark [The Band Wagon]
   I Get a Kick out of You [Anything Goes]
   Night and Day [Gay Divorce]
   Where or When [Babes in Arms]
   Get Out of Town [Leave it to Me!]
   Yesterdays [Roberta]
   Glad to Be Unhappy [On Your Toes]
   I've Got You Under My Skin [Born to Dance]
   Begin the Beguine [Jubilee]
   I Cain't Say No [Oklahoma!]
   Wouldn't It Be Loverly? [My Fair Lady]
   A Boy Like That [West Side Story]
   I Have a Love [West Side Story]
8. From Texas: Big "D" [The Most Happy Fella]
9. Opening
10. Our Classy, Classical Show
11. Girls in the Band
12. Madame Abernall's/I Could Have Danced All Night
13. He's Gone Away
14. Medley of the '60s
15. Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie
16. Finale

Tracks 1-8 from Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, Columbia OS-2240, 1962
Tracks 9-16 from Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center, Columbia S-31153, 1971