Bernadette Peters as 'Dolly' in HELLO, DOLLY

How do you think she would do in this role? And what about 'Mame' in MAME?

Bern reminds me of Ethel Merman - both starred in tons of hit shows, and both did GYPSY and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.

Why am I posting this? No idea. The idea just popped into my head.

---

Aren't they doing a TV movie of MAME? Perhaps Bern will take interest in the role?

---

I heared Cher was in consideration for that role.

Anyways, I'd LOVE to see Bernadette in any of the Golden Age classic roles. After Gypsy and AGYG she can handle anything. Shes one of the only women on broadway left who'd to get ASKED to play any of those roles!

REALLY?? Last I heard was about two years ago when Barbra was going to do MAME as a 2-part telemovie. (?)

Well, with Jerry Herman's next Broadway revivel being "HELLO, DOLLY," anything is possible. I would indeed love to see Bernadette get the role, and I think she can play it very well...hell if they can bring back Carol Channing, they can do anything. Bern has the pipes and she can act the crap out of it. I, for one, would love to see this come to pass. Maybe this time she won't lose the Tony to an actress who didn't deserve it.

---

Cher was going to do it at one point but she's been on a farewell tour for god knows how many years, so Herman and company have moved on and are looking around. No final choices yet.

And I've long thought that Bernadette should consider something like Dolly (or maybe one of Mary Martin's old roles) which would showcase her comedic skills and not tax her voice so much (she REALLY needs to get away from the Merman catalogue -- I don't want to see her doing Sally Adams of Reno Sweeney next).

---

Updated On: 1/20/05 at 11:45 PM

I saw an excellent production of HELLO DOLLY! last year with Victoria Clark in the lead. You could not have asked for a better Dolly. Hope this is the year she finally gets the recognition she deserves.

---

I would LOVE to see her as Dolly! Cher would have ruined it for me, though. But that's just me.

---

I felt Clark found every bit of humor in the role, and she's always technically perfect.

---

Midler'd be great. I just wonder whether she'd actually commit to six months to a year of eight shows a week at this point in her life/career. Lord knows she doesn't need the money. Who knows?

If they ever do a movie revival, though, I'm sure she'd be interested.

---

I think Bernadette and Bette are in different leagues money-wise. While Peters' salary was in the $50,000+ category (I believe she got a percentage of the gross whenever attendance hit certain percentage levels ), Midler had one of the top grossing concert tours in the country last year (she took in over $ 1 million per week for much of the past two years -- though she wasn't out every month).

But, money's not the issue with Midler (especially since she now has more than she could ever spend in ten lifetimes). While she's said in interviews that she might be interested in coming back to Broadway in a real musical at some point, I get the sense (though she's never said it) that the grind and rigors of eight shows a week might be more than she wants to put herself through at this point (with her concert tours, she's usually only doing a few concerts in a week and she never has two show days).

It's totally up to her. She could come back in any show she wants to. Heck, if she wanted to do a revival of "Panama Hattie" or "Coco" or "Destry Rides Again" producers would fall all over themselves to put money into it to make sure that it happened.

---

SO let's get the old girl her own original vehicle, ASAP! Get Terrence McNally to do the book and Marc Shaiman and Scott Whittman to do the score and let them all get rich (well...... richer than they already are).

How about John Waters' Female Trouble as a musical?

---

I'm racking my brain for movies and plays they could adapt that would feature a 50-something female lead and lend itself to a 60's, 70s pop/rock/r&b score (or even 30s, 40s since Midler does that stuff well also).

How about a Sophie Tucker musical a la Funny Girl?

---