Is the LuPone "HELLO, DOLLY!" off the table or what?

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:05pm

I don't know what the most recent 'final word' was on this story... Is Patti gonna do this or not??

It's got to happen soon!!!

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:14pm

This came up in an article about her upcoming Atlanta concerts:

LuPone also confirmed that plans for a “Hello, Dolly!” revival have flat-lined.

“[Composer/lyricist] Jerry [Herman] doesn't want to do anything but the original production and no one wants to invest in the original production,” she said. “I’m disappointed, but, you know, you get to a certain age and everything gets philosophical.”
Source

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:26pm

That's disappointing. I'd have loved to have seen LuPone tackle that role. It's also sad that Jerry Herman is too attached to the same, tired production that Carol Channing toured around for decades, and is averse to something different.

Oh well.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:29pm

Definitely disappointing. I really was looking forward to this one.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:31pm

Perhaps Herman feels that way because of the fiasco starring Tovah at Papermill ... that production of Dolly was a disaster.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:34pm

Well that was before Tovah started showing vajayjay
Updated On: 5/27/11 at 04:34 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 4:48pm

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[roseaddams]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 5:05pm

Tovah's vajayjay?

[HistoryBoy2]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 5:18pm

^ It's like the maw of a hungry horse.

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 6:34pm

While I ceratinly respect LuPone, I'm not one to usually name her as my casting choice for many roles, but I think she'd be something to behold as Dolly Levi.

I have no idea about the wherefores and whys of the production "flat-lining," but if you've read many interviews with Herman, or his memoirs, etc., he always speaks of how the original run of DOLLY! was such an unpleasant time for him. He has MUCH fonder memories of MILK AND HONEY and MAME.

It's a shame if he's married to some static idea of how HELLO, DOLLY! should be staged. I feel that there just has to be more to the story than that basic issue.
Updated On: 5/27/11 at 06:34 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 9:07pm

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

By that dilapidated logic, we never would have gotten Lincoln Center's South Pacific, or the revival of Chicago, or Sam Mendes' Cabaret, or LuPone's Gypsy, and so on.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 9:20pm

Well SOUTH PACIFIC was done pretty much verbatem, but the director, designers and actors found ways to make it vibrant and fresh, Mendes CABARET, you are absolutely correct, but that was completely re-thunk, and to a pretty tea, I must say. Pone's GYPSY, IMO. the less said the better (stuffed lamb).

I think that DOLLY works pretty well as is (but even Herman made changes during the Original run), as with SP the elements of design, clever direction and exciting performances can make DOLLY come alive anew.

Where's Dollypop when we need him/her?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 9:22pm

It's almost 9:30. Dollypops fast asleep so he can be at the mall tomorrow morning at 6.
Updated On: 5/27/11 at 09:22 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 9:26pm

There's a difference between something like "South Pacific" being redirected and the Sam Mendes "Cabaret."

"South Pacific" was simply redirected- it did not receive a conceptual overhaul, but neither was it a replica production. "Cabaret," though, was completely redesigned and reinterpreted throughout, with a newly edited book, newly interpolated numbers, and so on.

What they are suggesting is simply a new director and choreographer taking a crack at "Dolly," a show that has been, much like "West Side Story," frozen in time with its original premiere direction and choreography for its entire theatrical life. While impressive, the endless sameness and recreation can grow tiresome. The question becomes, even if it isn't "reimagined," can the public and the critics stomach a "new" Dolly or West Side?

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 10:03pm

darquegk makes several excellent points. I strongly feel that despite the genius choreography of Jerome Robbins (worthy of every superlative) it has not served the future life of WEST SIDE STORY well -- because of its "frozen in time" nature -- due to Laurents' and other estate-controlling folks' conditions.
I think the ONLY way for WEST SIDE STORY to honestly work well these days is to allow it to have a complete reconsideration. Personally, I always hoped that Twyla Tharp would want and/or be allowed to take a crack it for the past twenty years.

I think HELLO, DOLLY! is another "frozen" hit that would benefit from fresh eyes.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 11:35pm

I agree fresh eyes is a great idea, though the original designs and staging were perfection. I think Ms. Pop said Herman's concern was song interpolation. I don't think he would be against a fresh staging but good luck creating a new HELLO DOLLY number.

[Brick]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 11:51pm

They were perfection in the early 60s.

We saw what happens when an original production is recreated wholesale and that was the mothball museum piece A CHORUS LINE a few seasons back. I still shudder when I think of the athletic and winning Charlotte D'Ambroise having to execute that arm-heavy choreography built on the long-limbed Donna McKechnie with Charlotte's tiny frame. It was uncomfortable to watch and made neither actress nor choreographer look good. Re-conceive for performer and production, please.

And I doubt Jack O'Brien was looking to do that many changes. He isn't exactly a revisionist director.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/11 at 11:55pm

They were perfection in the early 60's, Right On!

[RagtimeRay]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 9:04am

Hello, Dolly! was my first Broadway musical. I saw Carol Channing on tour, but Martha Raye was the first Broadway Dolly that I saw. Until the PRODUCERS eclipsed the record, Hello, Dolly! held the most Tony awards earned. The original production WAS perfection (casting, direction/choreography, sets, costumes, lighting, and a tuneful score). But the show was hardly perfection in its early tryouts in Detroit. Someone reportedly approached David Merrick (the show's producer) after seeing the Dolly in Detroit and offered him a razor blade.

Jerry Herman had a tough experience with Merrick working on that show, with other composers asked to contribute songs. But Gower Champion managed to pull it all together in a fluid production - even the scenery looked choreographed!

The show was on the verge of closing in 1967 (after almost four years) when Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway breathed new life into it. They brought a freshness to the show - although the direction, choreography, sets, etc. remained essentially the same. I don't think the show needs to be reimagined. A new production would inevitably bring changes, but in the forty years since the original production closed, only two women have done Broadway revivals - Pearl Bailey and Carol Channing. I think new audiences deserve a chance to see this show, with a fresh cast - not necessarily with a dramatic re-imagining.

My vote for a new Broadway Dolly is Christine Ebersole.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 10:47am

Joran- I saw that picture this week and my first thought was "Thank God Elaine Stritch wears pant suits"

I totally agree that Dolly needs something new, but can also see Herman being so protective of it- composer of Hello Dolly will be the first line of his obit someday and its the show he is most remembered for.

To go back once more though, he should think of what a hit the last revival of La Cage was and realize that new isn't bad its just different and sometimes gives an entire new generation of people new reason to love the show. I for one would love to see a new vision of Dolly.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 11:05am

I wonder why Herman is so attached to the original production of "Dolly!" (I assume he means the staging, sets, costumes, cast size, orchestrations, direction, choreography, etc.)

He was fine letting them revamp La Cage. Is it just this one show he's so "married" to?

[Kad]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 11:36am

It doesn't need a dramatic reimagining. It just needs a new production. It's been the same production for decades. These original productions can't be locked in carbonite, because, like it has been said, they were originally produced in a different time.

Jerry Herman needs to let it go. It was a fabulous production, forty years ago. It sealed his name in the annals of American musical theatre. But it's time the show was revisited, with a new eye. This doesn't have to mean some barebones, actors-as-musicians production. Just... a new production. There are tons of actresses I'd love to see as Dolly Levi.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 12:52pm

Exactly. I don't think anyone is calling for a John Doyle-esque production of Dolly.

But, do we really need to drag the old Carol Channing sets and costumes out of storage again? Or have an old dance captain come out of the nursing home to "re-create" the original staging?

[Brick]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 2:55pm

Whenever I see the title of this thread, I get so disappointed this isn't happening. And it is odd given LA CAGE and it's two revivals back-to-back. Such a shame...

[MermansMan]

Posted: 5/28/11 at 4:37pm

I am extremely disappointed if this does not happen. I was so looking foward to hearing my darling Patti singing one of my favourite scores!!!