Petula Clark Post-Downtown era
 In 1954, Clark had starred in a stage production of The Constant Nymph, but it wasn't until 1981, at the urging of her children, that she returned to legitimate theatre, starring as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in London's West End. Opening to rave reviews and what was then the largest advance sale in British theatre history, Clark — proclaimed by Maria Von Trapp herself as the best Maria ever — extended her initial six-month run to thirteen to accommodate the huge demand for tickets . In 1983, she took on the title role in George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Later stage work includes Someone Like You in 1989 and 1990, for which she composed the score; Blood Brothers, in which she made her Broadway debut in 1993 at the Music Box Theatre, followed by the US tour; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, appearing in both the West End and U.S. touring productions from 1995 through 2000. In 2004, she repeated her performance of Norma Desmond in a production at the Cork Opera House in the Republic of Ireland, which was later broadcast by the BBC. With more than 2500 performances, she has played the role more often than any other actress.
Poster for 2007 concert tourIn both 1998 and 2002, Clark toured extensively throughout the UK. In 2000, she presented a self-written one-woman show, highlighting her life and career, to tremendous critical and audience acclaim at the St. Denis Theatre in Montreal. A 2003 concert appearance at the Olympia in Paris has been issued in both DVD and CD formats. In 2004, she toured Australia and New Zealand, appeared in sell-out performances at the Hilton in Atlantic City, the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, Humphrey's in San Diego, and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and participated in a multi-performer tribute to the late Peggy Lee at the Hollywood Bowl. Following another UK concert tour in early spring 2005, she appeared with Andy Williams in his Moon River Theater in Branson, Missouri for several months, and returned for another engagement in the fall of 2006, following scattered concert dates throughout the US and Canada.
In November 2006, Clark was the subject of a BBC Four documentary entitled Petula Clark: Blue Lady and appeared with Michael Ball and Tony Hatch in a concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane broadcast by BBC Radio the following month. In December that year she made her first appearance in Iceland. Duets, a compilation including Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and the Everly Brothers, among others, was released in February 2007, and Solitude and Sunshine, a studio recording of all new material by composer Rod McKuen, was released in July. She was the host of the March 2007 PBS pledge-drive special My Music: The British Beat, an overview of music's British invasion of the US in the 1960s, followed by a number of concert dates throughout the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She can be heard on the soundtrack of the 2007 independent film Downtown: A Street Tale.
In Her Own Write, a compilation of songs she has written and a score she composed for a film that was never released, is scheduled for release by Sepia Records in November 2007.
In 1998, Clark was honored by Queen Elizabeth II by being made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).
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