Dame Julie Andrews, whose long list of honors includes the Kennedy Center award presented by President George W. Bush, takes the stage at U.S. Bank Arena Tuesday as mistress of ceremonies for the lavish holiday stage production A Royal Christmas.

She will be joined by Christopher Plummer, her co-star from The Sound of Music, presiding over performances by Welsh soprano Charlotte Church, London's Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Westminster Choir and Westminster Bell Choir, plus Ukrainian folk dance troop Shumka and dancers from the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and Kyiv Ballet companies.

Julie Andrews and Julie Andrews host A Royal Christmas.

Dame Julie took time to discuss her career and the 15-city North American tour for A Royal Christmas with Enquirer film critic Margaret A. McGurk.

Question: Cincinnati is the first stop on the tour. Are you nervous?

A: I'm excited and, yes, I guess, a little nervous. I'm hoping whatever we do will be well-received and enjoyed. I think our main hope is that the evening will provide that feeling of unity that Christmas music can bring. If it can do that, we'll have reached our goal. We need it now more than ever before.

Q: It looks like you've taken on a rigorous schedule.

IF YOU GO

What: A Royal Christmas Where: U.S. Bank Arena When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Tickets: $40-$85; through box office, Ticketmaster outlets, charge by phone at 562-4949, online at www.ticketmaster.com. Group sales, 421-4111, Ext. 136.

A: Well, it's 2 1/2 weeks, yes, with a lot of people I like very much indeed. Chris Plummer is a good friend, and I know Charlotte Church rather well. Certainly the credentials are all there. The orchestra is wonderful. I won't be singing, but I will be hosting the evening with Chris.

Q: Do you have a favorite Christmas piece?

A: You'll see it in the program, if you come. I use it as a hook, it's called "In the Bleak Midwinter." It is a beautiful piece of writing and a beautiful piece of music by Gustav Holst. It's very simple - "In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone." - and it tells a beautiful tale. I choose my own Christmas carols for those kind of lyrics and find them beautiful to sing.

Q: You have had some vocal problems. How is your voice nowadays?

A: The speaking voice is fine. I've stopped singing, sadly. I wish that I were, but it is not in any shape that I would consider appropriate to use for singing so I'm going to be leaving that up to Charlotte this year. I'm still optimistic about it, but truthfully I don't suppose at this point in my life it will be back again in any great shape. I might be able to do a bass-voice version of something, but that's about it.

Q: You've been putting in a lot of time in front of movie cameras in non-singing roles.

A: Oh, yes. To my great surprise and delight I seem to be no less busy. I will be working on a sequel (to The Princess Diaries) next year. At the moment I'm working on two movies for television back-to-back based on the Eloise books by Kay Thompson. It is a good idea, and they're doing them very well, too.

Q: Where will you spend Christmas?

A: Here in Los Angeles, with the family. We'll finish up the tour just in time for me to get back. I had to do my Christmas preparing a bit early this year.

E-mail mmcgurk@enquirer.com