Hello, Dolly! Revival- Page 3

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 11:45am

Rumor has it that Susan Boyle will be the next Dolly.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 12:23pm

^ And I bet she'd be damn good.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 12:44pm

Bobby Steggert for Barnaby.

Updated On: 12/3/10 at 12:44 PM

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 11:14pm

Barnaby is suppose to be 19 years old. Christopher Fitzgerald is much too old.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 11:43pm

It has to be Patti.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 11:49pm

...and Cornelius is supposed to be 29. I would LOVE to see these roles cast with performers who look vaguely close to the right age.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 12:07am

True confession time...I'm fessing up and laying my soul bare, here - I don't know the first thing about "Hello, Dolly!".

I know it is a classic and I know it is Carol Channing's big vehicle, but I have never been in a position to experience this show firsthand (and I'm about to turn 37). Would someone be kind enough to explain the show and its context/history/dramaturgy for someone who lived in Georgia for most of their life? I live in New England now, so I promise I can follow.

[RagtimeRay]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:45am

HELLO, DOLLY! is the musical version of the Thornton Wilder play, THE MATCHMAKER (which was an update of an earlier play by Wilder called THE MERCHANT OF YONKERS). The story has roots that go back to an 1835 play titled "A Day Well Spent."

The musical is set in NYC and Yonkers at the turn of the last century. Dolly Gallagher Levi is a widow who spends her life as a matchmaker. At the beginning of Act 1 we learn that she is on her way to Yonkers where she has been hired by Horace Vandergelder to find him a new wife. Dolly talks to her late-husband Ephraim Levi and confides that she is going to marry Horace Vandergelder for his money and she asks him to give her a sign that he approves.

Once in Yonkers we meet Vandergelder, and Dolly tells him that she will meet him later that afternoon at Mrs. Malloy's hat shop - but she also mentions that she knows another girl - an heiress - in case things don't work out. We also meet Vandergelder's two clerks - Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker. And we meet Vandergelder's neice Ermangarde and her suiter Ambrose Kemper (of whom Vandergelder does not approve). She urges Kemper to go to the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant that evening and dance in the competition.

Cornelius and Barnaby decide to close the feed store and head into NYC. As it happens they show up at Mrs. Malloy's hat shop, and are smitten by Mrs. Malloy and her clerk Minnie Fay. However, when they see Vandergelder approaching the store they run and hide in closets and under tables, and Vandergelder gets suspicious of what is going on. Dolly arrives just in time to stir those suspicious even more, and after Vandergelder storms out - taking his present for Mrs. Malloy with him - she suggests that the two guys take the two ladies to dinner that evening at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.

At the end of the Act, Dolly meets Vandergelder at the 14th Street Parade and tells him to meet Ernestina Money (the Heiress) at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant that evening.

Act 2 opens with everyone arriving at the Harmonia Gardens. Vandergelder meets Ernestina, discovering that she is a plump lady who wants to buy everying on the menu. Then Dolly arrives at the restaurant to the show's title tune (she and her husband used to go to the Harmonia Gardens, but it has been many years, and the waiters welcom her back in an 8 minute production number that is the highlight of the show.

She then eats dinner with Vandergelder, apologizes for Ernestina, and says that she has found him another mistress with a name she knows as well as her own. Vandergelder realizes what she is up to, but resists. Then he discovers his neice in the dancing contest and his two clerks there with Mrs. Malloy and Minnie Faye. A disturbance ensues, and Vandergelder is arrested for disturbing the peace.

The following morning all are back in Yonkers, Cornelius announces that they are opening up a store across the street. Dolly arrives and suggests that Vandergelder make Cornelius a partner, and they can all be together to dance at Ermengarde's wedding. Vandergelder finally realizes that he doesn't want Dolly to find him another woman, that he's already found somebody, and that "it's you dammit."

That's not the finest summary of the plot, and I'm sure you can find better ones online. What made the show was a tuneful score, first-rate production values (sets, costumes), and direction and choreography by Gower Champion. The producers wanted Ethel Merman in the title role, but she was tired after having done GYPSY on Broadway and tour for several years and turned them down. Carol Channing was ultimately selected for the role, and made it her own. David Burns played Vandergelder in the original production. When it closed, it was the longest running Broadway show in history (eclipsed by many since then). What kept the show running as long as it did was creative casting. The show was on the verge of closing when producer David Merrick cast Pearl Bailey and "an all black cast." She did the show for two years. Ethel Merman finally played Dolly in its final year on Broadway.

It was my first Broadway show (saw it nine times on B'way) and so I have fond memories.

[RagtimeRay]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:45am

HELLO, DOLLY! is the musical version of the Thornton Wilder play, THE MATCHMAKER (which was an update of an earlier play by Wilder called THE MERCHANT OF YONKERS). The story has roots that go back to an 1835 play titled "A Day Well Spent."

The musical is set in NYC and Yonkers at the turn of the last century. Dolly Gallagher Levi is a widow who spends her life as a matchmaker. At the beginning of Act 1 we learn that she is on her way to Yonkers where she has been hired by Horace Vandergelder to find him a new wife. Dolly talks to her late-husband Ephraim Levi and confides that she is going to marry Horace Vandergelder for his money and she asks him to give her a sign that he approves.

Once in Yonkers we meet Vandergelder, and Dolly tells him that she will meet him later that afternoon at Mrs. Malloy's hat shop - but she also mentions that she knows another girl - an heiress - in case things don't work out. We also meet Vandergelder's two clerks - Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker. And we meet Vandergelder's neice Ermangarde and her suiter Ambrose Kemper (of whom Vandergelder does not approve). She urges Kemper to go to the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant that evening and dance in the competition.

Cornelius and Barnaby decide to close the feed store and head into NYC. As it happens they show up at Mrs. Malloy's hat shop, and are smitten by Mrs. Malloy and her clerk Minnie Fay. However, when they see Vandergelder approaching the store they run and hide in closets and under tables, and Vandergelder gets suspicious of what is going on. Dolly arrives just in time to stir those suspicious even more, and after Vandergelder storms out - taking his present for Mrs. Malloy with him - she suggests that the two guys take the two ladies to dinner that evening at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.

At the end of the Act, Dolly meets Vandergelder at the 14th Street Parade and tells him to meet Ernestina Money (the Heiress) at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant that evening.

Act 2 opens with everyone arriving at the Harmonia Gardens. Vandergelder meets Ernestina, discovering that she is a plump lady who wants to buy everying on the menu. Then Dolly arrives at the restaurant to the show's title tune (she and her husband used to go to the Harmonia Gardens, but it has been many years, and the waiters welcom her back in an 8 minute production number that is the highlight of the show.

She then eats dinner with Vandergelder, apologizes for Ernestina, and says that she has found him another mistress with a name she knows as well as her own. Vandergelder realizes what she is up to, but resists. Then he discovers his neice in the dancing contest and his two clerks there with Mrs. Malloy and Minnie Faye. A disturbance ensues, and Vandergelder is arrested for disturbing the peace.

The following morning all are back in Yonkers, Cornelius announces that they are opening up a store across the street. Dolly arrives and suggests that Vandergelder make Cornelius a partner, and they can all be together to dance at Ermengarde's wedding. Vandergelder finally realizes that he doesn't want Dolly to find him another woman, that he's already found somebody, and that "it's you dammit."

That's not the finest summary of the plot, and I'm sure you can find better ones online. What made the show was a tuneful score, first-rate production values (sets, costumes), and direction and choreography by Gower Champion. The producers wanted Ethel Merman in the title role, but she was tired after having done GYPSY on Broadway and tour for several years and turned them down. Carol Channing was ultimately selected for the role, and made it her own. David Burns played Vandergelder in the original production. When it closed, it was the longest running Broadway show in history (eclipsed by many since then). What kept the show running as long as it did was creative casting. The show was on the verge of closing when producer David Merrick cast Pearl Bailey and "an all black cast." She did the show for two years. Ethel Merman finally played Dolly in its final year on Broadway.

It was my first Broadway show (saw it nine times on B'way) and so I have fond memories.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 10:22am

In the original production, Carol Channing was replaced by Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl bailey, Phyllis Diller and Ethel Merman.

Understudy Bibi Osterwald went on in the role many times and during the Pearl Bailey run, Thelma Carpenter played most matinees.

Dolly's original understudy was JoAnn Worley who never went on and left the company early to join television's "Laugh-In".

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 5:32pm

>> "Dolly's original understudy was JoAnn Worley"

OMG I would have loved to see her perform that role.

[Overkill]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 6:07pm

JoAnne went on to play Gussie Granger/Ernestina Simple in the tour. She even did a screen test, but didn't get the film.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:13pm

There is no character named Gussie Granger in HELLO, DOLLY!

Thank you very much.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:15pm

In fact, there's no character named Ernestina Simple in the musical, either..

I'm guessing that Overkill needs an adjustment in medications.

BTW: At that point in her career, Worley would have been too young to play Dolly. Nowadays she'd be splendid.

[JOak]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:27pm

Dollypop, who would you suggest to play Dolly ?

[RagtimeRay]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:36pm

I had the chance to meet Joanne Worley after she played Mamma Rose in a production of GYPSY (she was very good). I didn't know of her history as the standby for Ms. Channing in HELLO, DOLLY! and I said, "You'd be great as Dolly Levi in HELLO, DOLLY!, have you ever done the role." She told me about being the original standby, but said that Carol Channing never missed a performance.

[broadwaydanwi]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:56pm

Jo Anne Worley played HELLO, DOLLY! at Milwaukee's Melody Top Theatre from July 15-27, 1980. There is a picture of her peforming the title number on my website, "Memories of Melody Top." I think Ms. Worley also performed the role at several other summer stock venues. I'm sure she could still do the role perfectly!
Memories of Melody Top

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 8:03pm

Dollypop: Overkill must be thinking of the movie, where Worley *does* play those roles.

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 8:18pm

Worley was also lined up to play her in the Boston area a couple of years ago. She backed out, Rachel York stepped in and was sensational! And before anyone says, "She's too young," she was totally believable. She seemed more like a contemporary of Irene's, making it all the more heartbreaking that she had put herself on the sidelines after Ephraim's death. What everyone seems to forget is that Carol Channing was only 42 the FIRST time she played Dolly. And she was quite sexy, judging from photos and video clips. Back at the turn of the 20th century, women were "old maids" at 20. I believe Ernestina even has a line to that effect. So 40 was downright old by comparison.

[Overkill]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 1:12am

I'm sorry!!!! I just realized the role(s) aren't in the musicals. I remembered reading somewhere that she did the tour, but I was mistaken. But in THE FILM she screen tested for it and didn't get it. She's actually not too old for the role now, if they decide to go that way with it. She's fantastic.

[actormcfamous]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 12:55pm

Victoria Clark for Dolly. She would be UNREAL... her recording of "Before the Parade Passes By" on her album is sublime. And I'd love to see Mark Rylance as Horace and Laura Benanti (or Kelli O'Hara) as Irene Molloy.

I echo the votes for Christopher Fitzgerald/Bobby Steggert... they'd be perfect.

[noradesmond]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 1:26pm

This is a little out of left field but didn't David Merrick want to stunt-cast the role near the end of the original production to try to extend it's life? This would have been around the Phyllis Diller and Ethel Merman time period. If memory serves me, he approached Jack Benny to play Dolly.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 1:33pm

No, Jack Benny was supposed to play Horace opposite Bert Lahr's Dolly.

My choices for the role of Dolly (other than myself)? Well, Carol has told me that the key to playing Dolly is to be hysterically funny without realizing that you are. (Carol patterned her performance after the original play's author, Thornton Wilder)

With that said, I think Georgia Engel would be a terrific Dolly. I can also see Mitzi Gaynor playing the part (and Jerry Herman is crazy about that idea)

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 2:28pm

She doesn't have the name to do it on Broadway but I would love to see what Harriet Harris would do with the part.

I also love the idea of Geogia Engel , who did Minnie Fay during the original run of the show.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 2:38pm

Harriet Harris would be sensational. However, my first choice remains Reba.