JohnBoy, you are a fool!
Irene Molloy is a poor milliner. Yet in the film, her shop looks like a roccoco masterpiece from Vienna. Check out that ceiling! Similarly, the Harmonia Gardens is delicted as something exceptionally lavish, yet it was Ephraim Levi's favorite place, and Ephraim was a merchant, not a billionaire.
Check out the number of extras in the parade sequence: there weren't that many people living in lower Manhattan at the time the story takes place!
Yes, I'd welcome a new conception of HWLLO, DOLLY! but it has to be done with the skill and understanding Arthur Laurents showed with his recent GYPSY.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)