Bette Midler as Dolly — Page 4

"political correctness/progressiveness but in the name of what's right in life and in the art), and against narrow-minded bigotry, can be so surprisingly bigoted when it comes to casting. "

YAWN!!! Holy crap, you are a BORE. When I say, for example, that Cher can't play Mame it's because she would have NO IDEA HOW TO PLAY HER. She is not a versatile actress, and she comes from a trashy background. Mame is a high born blue blood, and Cher simply doesn't know from that, and can't fake it.

IF Bette would return to Bway with HELLO DOLLY! then the show would have finally found a worthy icon to carry on the reign. Channing was never 'Irish-seeming' & she is an OCTAROON to boot. Bette would bring life to the old chestnut in a way that no other would. Convincing her that the score is worthy enough is the next step.

Per Wiki (and her own account in the documentary about her), Channing not only had an African-American grandmother, she also had two Jewish grandparents.

The one thing she doesn't seem to have been is Irish.

I'm firmly in the "Who cares?" about Dolly's ethnicity.

It is a demanding role, however, and whether Bette Milder wants to work that hard at 70 is a fair question. I doubt she needs the money.

^cool. I know I can go on and on....

I wouldn't read too into this. As Reidel says himself, the interest in her doing the show has always been there. The topic is just coming up again now because she's back on Broadway to such tremendous success. She's been offered revivals of MAME and countless other shows before too, all of which she's passed on consistently.

She'd be a fabulous Dolly, of course, but I think it would take a lot to convince her to do a role that's so incredibly taxing. The fact that she barely gets up from the couch in I'LL EAT YOU LAST had a lot to do with why they were able to talk her into doing it in the first place, not to mention the personal relationship she had with Sue Mengers. She'd also have to commit to a year in a musical as big as DOLLY, which I don't see her being interested in (considering she stated openly that she wanted to essentially retire after he last Vegas stint).

That being said, who knows- maybe she's having a good enough time that she'd consider it. She said on opening night a couple months ago that it was important to her to return to Broadway in a new play and not a revival in order to leave a lasting legacy by creating something all her own. Now that she's fulfilled that, perhaps she'd be more open to the idea of a revival. Lord knows there's none more ideal for her than DOLLY.

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Updated On: 5/29/13 at 12:37 AM

You know, really, Bette is brassy and fun and she has an interesting persona, but I was never all that impressed with her voice. She has a great personality and can sell a song, but technically I don't think she's anywhere near a LuPone.

Oddly enough, Joe Mantello played a waiter in a summer stock production of HELLO, DOLLY! as a teenager opposite Jayne Houdyshell as Dolly. If he and Midler had as great an experience working together as has been reported, he may be exactly the right person to lead her toward such an iconic role.

It would be a somewhat unconventional choice, to be sure, but I'd be interested to see what the show would be like in his hands.

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Updated On: 5/29/13 at 03:06 AM

"It would be amazing and she is the only name I can think of that could headline a big revival of Dolly and make it a success and be just perfect in the role."

I would suggest that Reba would be even better, and would sell at least as many tickets as Midler.

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lo.....l?

I saw a production in Cleveland in the early 70s where Dolly was black and almost everyone else was white (maybe 2 black waiters). It totally worked!

As for the Gallagher question -- we're talking 3 or 4 mentions that that had been Dolly's maiden name. That was NOT what was wrong with the movie.

Bette as Dolly -- I'll be on that ticket line the first day!

I love Bette and would LOVE to see her as Dolly. It would be the biggest, most anticipated revival to hit Broadway in YEARS.

I also LOVE the idea of Reba (much better than LuPone actually). She killed it in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and definitely has the vocal AND acting chops (she's incredibly funny). And at this point in time, Reba's voice is definitely stronger than a late 60's-something Bette.

I just hope Reba comes back to the stage eventually. I don't really care in what, I just want to see her again.

I'm glad ljay889 brought up the two Merman songs, 'World, Take Me Back' and 'Love, Look in My Window'. I have heard these on the, ahem, live recording but never seen them on stage. I love DOLLY, but I've always been disappointed that between 'I Put My Hand In' and 'So Long Dearie' Dolly doesn't sing the songs as much as she introduces them.

I understand that some peoplke feel the two cut songs are superfluous, but IMHO, in a star vehicle, the star needs to be one-on-one with the audience, preferably in a traditional 'wanting song', that lets the audience fall in love with the character and gets us rooting for them to acheive their goal. Dolly's little speeches to Ephram go part of the way, but we never get the intimacy that comes with a 'Wouldn't it Be Loverly', or even 'If I Were A Rich Man'.

Far be it from me to say that we didn't fall in love with Carol Channing or Pearl Bailey, but seeing a star with Midler's magnetism step out in one and put across those two songs would be memorable.

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