Profile for RagtimeRay

I had the pleasure of seeing the Carolee Carmello led Hello, Dolly! tour at Artis Naples. This is a first-rate company. I've seen quite a few performances of Dolly over the years, including during its original run (Channing, Rogers, Raye, Grable, Bailey, and Merman); Regional or tours (Palmer, Hines); The recent B'way revival (Murphy), and Betty Buckley in the first national tour of the revival. I thought Carmello was as good as any Dolly I've seen, and perhaps the best singer in

I had the pleasure of seeing Betty Buckley and the national tour of Hello, Dolly! on Saturday afternoon at The Smith Center in Las Vegas. Kudos to all.

However, I have a question: I've seen Dolly many times (during its first run, Channing's revival, tours, and the recent Broadway revival - Donna Murphy). At the end of the title number, Dolly and the waiter's start the "duck walk" on stage left of the passerale and move in the direction of stage right. The same is

I saw this revival three times (Wolf Trap, Pittsburgh, and Broadway). At the Broadway performance, Carol went up on a line during the eating scene at the Harmonia Gardens. She turned to the audience and said, "Well, that's what you get with me." They ate it up.

A friend said of the show at the time: "It was like visiting with an old friend."

I agree with Dame that the video captures a very robotic performance, which I had not felt in the theatre. NOTE: I

goldenboy said: "Saw Donna Murphy tonight. Donna's Dolly was more real, funny, warm, more manipulative and in charge  and totally believable. You were watching Dolly Levi up there.  Donna  sang and danced impeccably and was technically a better Dolly if lacking the superstar excitement of  Bette. Donna reminded me of one part Mary Martin; one part Shirley Booth; one part Fanny Brice and one part Zazu Pitts. Donna was a totally belieivable and wonderful Dolly. .&nb

I saw Martha Raye as Dolly one month after seeing Carol Channing on tour as Dolly. I saw Channing from the next to the last row of the balcony in a 2400 seat theatre, and saw Martha Raye from the front row of the St. James. I was familiar with Raye from TV, and she was always quite the comedic cut-up. I thought of her as "mugging" quite a lot. However, she played the role of Dolly quite legitimately, sang well, and her comic talents worked well in the hat shop scene and the eating s

Hello, Dolly! was my first Broadway show. I saw it a number of times during its original run (and on tour) and all of the original Broadway Dollys except for Phyllis Diller (I saw Channing and Ginger Rogers during their touring performances).

When I heard that the show was closing, I made one last pilgrimage to NYC to see the show (Merman) in early December of 1970. I chatted with the stage door man that day and was telling him about seeing all of the Broadway Dollys except for Phyllis

Stage Door Sally said: "I've also seen lackluster Dollys, notably one at the Gateway Playhouse, the whole production was like watching paint dry and Dolly - Mimi Hines was clearly struggling. So it depends on the cast."

I saw Mimi Hines in a tour that featured the original sets and costumes. Phil Ford was her Vandergelder. Although I'm a fan of the show, that was the worst production of Hello, Dolly! I've ever seen. Ms. Hines "struggled"