Bernadette Peters as 'Dolly' in HELLO, DOLLY — Page 3

Personally I would love to see Harriet Harris as Dolly. She's a very funny actress who can also be very touching. The show will sell itself they can go for a more Broadway name.

As for the musical version of Baby Jane, should it be written, I say Charles Busch and Harvey Fierstein.

I've always been thinking about my dream casting for Auntie Mame (for the play, not "Mame")... 10 years ago, i thought Anne Bancroft would be great! Today, i'm thinking Wendy Malick!

I think I said the same thing a week or two ago. She would be a reason I would make a trip to see Dolly. I've never been a fan of the show.

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OK robbiej, you've just given me a reason to see Mame.

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Oh my god. Are you folks making up these rumors as you go along? Cher is doing Mame. The agreement is they will start production after she completes her farewell tour and a film commitment she has. Work is being done on the book of the show to make it more faithfull to the actual play. And they are also planning on having a broadway bound revival ( Baranski was rumored at some point) before it is made for tv. How do I know all this? Simple... I watch Oprah. Cher did two interviews with her last season and in both she talked about this project.

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Well, it took a while and some googling to find it, but here, from justplaincher.com (a Cher fan site) is the Herman quote about Mame (from October 26, 2004):

"It's official; Cher and Streisand are both 'out' as far as the new movie incarnation of MAME is concerned. Cher was to star, Streisand was to executive produce with her production team.

"It's up for grabs" says creator Jerry Herman referring to a movie redux of his musical MAME. Herman was questioned about MAME this weekend, while visiting East Haddam (CT) at the Goodspeed Opera House where a revival of Herman's "MACK and MABEL" is under way.

According to Herman, he took one look at the early version of the script under Streisand's supervision and nixed the idea. He complains that Streisand took some liberties with the big chorus numbers, and changed them into solo versions for "Mame" (Cher) to sing. Says Herman, "She took 'It's Today' and turned it into a solo! A solo! It's a party song, and she turns it into a solo? I don't want to get into it."

Herman was more interested in talking about his new choice to play Mame. "What do you think about Catherine Zeta Jones as MAME?" he asked reporters. "She's funny and she's a real musical lady. I think it would be phenomenal". "

Now, personally, I think Catherine Zeta-Jones is all wrong (and a decade too young) for the part, but, regardless, the point is Cher is OUT as Mame.

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Well; Herman does not own the tv rights.. but I will find out from one of my sources and post.

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I could see Bette doing a rewrite of a Mae West film such as She Done Him Wrong or I'm No Angel. Both have potential for big brassy scores and huge productions. West's play "Sex" has delicious opportunities for a hilarious musicalized camp production.

Though I'm sure it would never be done, I think a musical version of Ruthless People (or it's original, Too Many Crooks) would be fantastic. The story is wonderful and the characters are ripe for musicalization.

Just throwing ideas out there, I think a female version of Heaven Can Wait has numerous opportunities .

Dinner at Eight could work, though it may be too much of an ensemble piece to feature Bette.




Baby Jane Musical

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I really don't think we'll see Bette doing eight (or even six)shows a week on Broadway anytime soon.

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As long as we're going that route, how about Harvey Fierstein as Dolly, but all the songs are dubbed by Federika Von Stade.

I must say I do like the idea of Queen Latifah IF she could work with a dialect coach to get some of the modern street dialect out of her tone.

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I could TOTALLY see it!

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You can't win around here americanboy99, if you had posted a new thread some smartass "broadway legend" would have pointed out that there was a already a thread about this and snidely "suggest" you do a search. Dotcha love theatre lovers?

As for Peters a Dolly. No, please, no.

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