Hello. I just wanted to jump in! I first saw Dolly on 12/7/64 with my parents, sitting in the second balcony Row A Center of the St. James Theater. As a teenager, I saw Pearl Bailey, and actually snuck in to her last performance in December 1969. I was sitting front for center on December 27, 1970 when Ethel Merman closed the show, and I was thrilled to hear myself cheering on the recently discovered recording made that day. Hello Dolly! made me fall in love with the theater, and it has been my lifelong passion.
I finally counted up my visits during this run, and counting next weekend, I will have seen Bette 12 times, Bernadette 5 and Donna 2. There is a feeling that comes over me when the overture starts is something that will never go away. I have since added La Cage, The Producers and Hamilton to my top 4, but Dolly is where it all began.
I will be there for both of the final two shows, and I would love to meet everyone!