I just saw Hello Dolly again with Bernadette Peters, who of course is fabulous, but I have a variety of weird observations and wonderings about the show. the show seems to be 2:40 run time now, and I thought they had it down to about 2:35 with bette. it started out at about 2:45 at the beginning of previews, but they did a good job of shaving some of that time off as the show went along and seemed to have it down to 2:35.
Peters does sing a bit more up tempo that Midler, so I would think this would speed things up. But Victor Garber seems to sing at a slower pace than David Hyde Pierce, so I would think this would even things out. Of course Horace doesn't have as many songs. And it seems like Gaven Creel sings a little faster now, though he's still marvelous and in reality is the best part of this show, not Midler or Donna Murphy or anyone else, Creel is still the biggest star in this show in my opinion.
Or is it just my imagination with all this run time examination? Peters was getting some super long applause, so this does slow things down a little Also, a big shoutout to Ryan Worsing, who did a super job as Barnaby