Contributor: There's a reason people are still talking about Julie Andrews as she turns 91

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Set us as preferred Summer mornings in the Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh are a respite from the dissonance of honking cars and construction of the capital city of Dhaka.It was a welcome change to hear chickens and the sound of … wait, was that Julie Andrews’ voice echoing over the hills?I was visiting my home country when I heard a group of schoolchildren playing ektaras, a traditional string instrument, and singing the “Do-Re-Mi” song for their morning assembly.I used my phone to show them a picture of Andrews.

“Do you know her?” They immediately leaped in excitement.They didn’t know the composer Richard Rodgers or lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II.

But they knew Andrews — even though 60 years have passed since “The Sound of Music” and these children live in a remote Bangladeshi village.The recognition is evidence of something extraordinary.Andrews is turning 91 on Thursday, and there are calls online to bubble wrap her, just in case.

She is indeed a global treasure, and she has been earning plaudits and admirers for eight decades.Andrews trained in the Italian bel canto tradition and from a young age sang challenging coloratura arias with precision, clarity and range.The bright, happy tone, perhaps a subconscious decision rather than anatomical alone, provided her respite from the doodlebug bombs that fell during her childhood in England in World War II.

British critics had dubbed her as the “youngest prima donna,” a title usually reserved for opera greats, and it wasn’t undeserved.At just 12, she routinely floated high Fs above the treble staff during live performances.Yet before opera could claim her, Broadway stepped in.

From “The Boy Friend” to “My Fair Lady” and then “Camelot,” she won the hearts of theater goers and creators alike.Lyricist Alan Lerner described her as “an ama...