Julie Andrews returns to TV to help kids put on a show

Hollywood legend Julie Andrews is making her first television series in more than a decade to teach children how to put on a show, its producers said Sunday.

The Oscar and Grammy winner is working with the creators of the Muppets on "Julie's Greenroom", a series which will air first on online streaming service Netflix.

The British actress will play Ms Julie, a kind of Mary Poppins character who helps a group of puppet children created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop -- known as the "Greenies" -- to try mime, music, dance, improvisation and circus skills.

The 81-year-old star, who heads her own Wellspring Center for the Performing Arts, has roped in other big names including Alec Baldwin and "Frozen" and "Wicked" actress Idina Menzel to pass on their secrets.

Lisa Henson, the daughter of the Sesame Street creator who now runs his Hollywood production company, told the MIPJUNIOR conference in the French resort of Cannes that she was thrilled Andrews had agreed to do the series, which comes out next year.

"There is no one quite like her. She is just wonderful. We are really excited about what she and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton are doing," she added.

Andrews, who was born into a theatre family in Britain, is best known for her role as Maria the sparky nun-turned-governess in the classic 1965 musical "The Sound of Music".