New Dramatists, New York's home for playwrights, will celebrate their Golden Anniversary with musical theatre legend Julie Andrews, in their Annual Spring Luncheon May 13, 1999.

Andrews' vocal health has been the talk of the theatre community of late, with her husband, Blake Edwards, telling Parade magazine in November that because of complications from a throat operation, Andrews would never sing again.

Andrews seems to think differently, telling British newspaper, The Mail (Dec. 6), that Edwards' reports were false. She declared, "I will sing again...It's true my voice is a little weak at the moment, but I'm resting it and it will get better. I'm sure it will."

Andrews continued, "I had an operation on my throat, 18 months ago to remove some harmless nodules. Since then I have been in what is called slow vocal recovery.''

New Dramatists, founded in 1949, offers a haven for playwrights to develop their craft via workshops, staged readings, awards and prizes. New Dramatist membership lasts for a seven-year span. Alumni include: Robert Anderson, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, Richard Foreman, William Inge, Donald Margulies, Terrence McNally, Suzan-Lori Parks, John Patrick Shanley, Mac Wellman and many more. Current New Dramatists members include: Diana Son (Stop/Kiss), Jeffrey Hatcher (Turn of the Screw), Keith Glover (Thunder Knocking on the Door), Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive), and Ruth Margraff (The Elektra Fugues).

For information on the New Dramatists' 50th Annual Spring Luncheon, honoring Julie Andrews call (212) 757-6960.

-- By Sean McGrath