Hello, Dolly! Revival — Page 3

^ And I bet she'd be damn good.

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

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...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.

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.

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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".

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

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.

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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.

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

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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.

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.

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.