"I thought it was all a flash in the pan. It wasn't until Broadway came along that I felt I had really made it"
About this Quote
Broadway, in her telling, isn't just another gig. It's a credentialing system. Mid-century theater culture treated Broadway as the proving ground where craft outweighed hype, where you didn't simply get discovered - you got tested, night after night, under the most exacting conditions a musical performer can face. Andrews's subtext is that film and celebrity can feel like luck, even when they're built on skill; stage work feels earned. The word "really" does the heavy lifting: it suggests she had already "made it" in the public eye, but not yet in her own private ledger.
Context matters here because Andrews arrived as a young woman with a voice that sounded almost engineered for classical precision, stepping into an industry that loves novelty but trusts tradition. Broadway represents tradition: union rigor, critical scrutiny, and the unforgiving repetition of live performance. The quote also reveals a self-protective psychology common among artists who rise quickly: if you treat early success as temporary, you cushion yourself against the crash.
What makes the line work is its quiet critique of fame itself. Not all success is equal, and Andrews draws the hierarchy with a smile.
Quote Details
| Topic | Career |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Andrews, Julie. (2026, January 18). I thought it was all a flash in the pan. It wasn't until Broadway came along that I felt I had really made it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-thought-it-was-all-a-flash-in-the-pan-it-wasnt-23404/
Chicago Style
Andrews, Julie. "I thought it was all a flash in the pan. It wasn't until Broadway came along that I felt I had really made it." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-thought-it-was-all-a-flash-in-the-pan-it-wasnt-23404/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I thought it was all a flash in the pan. It wasn't until Broadway came along that I felt I had really made it." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-thought-it-was-all-a-flash-in-the-pan-it-wasnt-23404/. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.

