OFFICIAL - Bernadette To Replace Bette!- Page 8
OFFICIAL - Bernadette To Replace Bette!
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#175
Posted: 8/25/17 at 5:13pm
You people with these unrealistic fantasy dream casting.
Mandy Patinkin has a TV job. He was only going into COMET for 3 weeks during some production down time. He can not commit to any Broadway production for any required time frame of a few months.
Same applies to Lady Gaga, who not only just began a long World Tour but has post-production work going on with her remake of A STAR IS BORN.
Meryl Streep is now filming the sequel to MAMMA MIA! and has a handful of other films scheduled once she's finished.
Even Queen Latifah allegedly had to decline the offer due to her schedule.
Unless it's a C or D level performer, no one huge right now is available.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#176
Posted: 8/25/17 at 6:11pm
Meryl has said many many times that she isn't interested in doing a revival. As for Patinkin's availability, He may be through with filming by February 2018. All we know is that he wasn't available in the late fall and early winter. Lady Gaga just released a major album this year and is touring. Latifah is occupied at the moment. From what I understand, Peters is doing it for a couple of months alongside another star (perhaps Mandy, that's the rumor) and then they have a line up of stars to play the role for a few weeks each.
Also, JK Simmons would be wonderful and he does have a history with Zaks.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#177
Posted: 8/25/17 at 6:13pm
Also hasn't Lupone been "banned" from playing Dolly by Jerry Herman because she wanted to play it grittier or something?
Broadway Star Joined: 7/9/17
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#178
Posted: 8/25/17 at 7:08pm
BrodyFosse123 said: "You people with these unrealistic fantasy dream casting.
Mandy Patinkin has a TV job. He was only going into COMET for 3 weeks during some production down time. He can not commit to any Broadway production for any required time frame of a few months.
Same applies to Lady Gaga, who not only just began a long World Tour but has post-production work going on with her remake of A STAR IS BORN.
Meryl Streep is now filming the sequel to MAMMA MIA! and has a handful of other films scheduled once she's finished.
Even Queen Latifah allegedly had to decline the offer due to her schedule.
Unless it's a C or D level performer, no one huge right now is available.
"
You are absolutely correct. Which why I hope they do some short engagement casting.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#179
Posted: 8/25/17 at 7:16pm
GeorgeandDot said: "Also hasn't Lupone been "banned" from playing Dolly by Jerry Herman because she wanted to play it grittier or something?
What a horrible production that would be. Dolly Levi is not a gritty character, and Patti is definitely not the right actress to play her. I haven't heard of her being banned, but isn't Jerry Herman pretty particular about his shows? I wouldn't be surprised.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#180
Posted: 8/25/17 at 7:21pm
Patti wasn't banned, Herman just didn't okay that production because they didn't want to use the original staging. He doesn't want any radical deviation from the Gower original (while he's alive).
Patti would be a thrilling Dolly.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#181
Posted: 8/25/17 at 7:32pm
^ That is correct. PATTI'S revival had a director and everything (Jack O'Brien) but Herman did not approve how they wanted to deviate from the original staging.
Now Herman has apparently said Patti is "too ethnic" for the role, which makes no sense.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#182
Posted: 8/25/17 at 7:50pm
I've had Tyne Daly on the brain, lately and hoping she would come back in a play or musical so now I'm trying to picture her in Dolly, but I'm not sure she could pull it off.
(I'd buy a premium ticket for Harvey to do it.)
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#183
Posted: 8/25/17 at 8:02pm
Brody, you're totally right, I got carried away with the Mandy Patinkin/Bernadette Peters reunion fantasy casting.
And yes, Meryl Streep is booked, but let's also remember she has said repeatedly that she only wants to return to Broadway in a new play. Hopefully, the rumors that she'll star in Tony Kushner's new play are true, though Streep has been giving excuses not to be on Broadway for decades now, which leads me to believe she doesn't find the prospect of a sustained run particularly exciting, appealing, or thrilling.
Also, I think it's time to retire the myth that Latifah will not commit to a Broadway schedule. Her comments on WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE made it clear that she will do Broadway but only when her schedule allows her to dedicate herself completely to a show, which is different from saying that she refuses to do 7-8 shows/week. She'd be truly special as Dolly, but she's young enough that she can easily headline a new revival when she's Midler's age.
Did Patti herself say that Herman thinks she's too ethnic for Dolly? It's just such a baffling, weird comment. I mean, Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand are "ethnic" too and they are both iconic Dollys in their own way. LuPone would be such a force in the role. I can so see her selling the comedy.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#184
Posted: 8/25/17 at 8:52pm
Yup, Patti said on the WWHL after show that Herman has now deemed her too ethnic.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#185
Posted: 8/25/17 at 8:58pm
Here are some DOLLYs from past years in different tours and regional productions - mostly familiar with TV audiences. Most got very good reviews, as did the productions themselves:
Jennifer Lewis of 'Black-ish' and other TV shows (Seattle, WA) - March, 2010
Judy Norton of 'The Waltons' (Galveston, TX, as well as tours throughout Texas years after) - 2003
Michelle Lee of 'Knots Landing' (Three city tour starting in Kansas City) - 2005
Vicki Lewis of 'NewsRadio' (Jupiter, FL) - 2012
Sally Struthers of 'All In The Family' (50th Anniversary - National Tour) - 2014
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#186
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:12pm
I'd like to see someone with powerhouse vocals in the role. I know it doesn't need it, but I felt like Midler's singing left a lot to be desired.
Broadway Star Joined: 7/9/17
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#187
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:13pm
RippedMan said: "I'd like to see someone with powerhouse vocals in the role. I know it doesn't need it, but I felt like Midler's singing left a lot to be desired.
"
She has sounded great every time I saw her.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#188
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:15pm
CallMeAl12 said, "Bernadette is not a broad. Dolly is a broad.....She would certainly be as entertaining as Streisand was in the film. But she doesn't have the warmth or chutzpah to pull off Dolly Force-Of-Nature Gallagher Levi....."
Agreed. I can't see her as a "chutzpah'ed" Dollly anymore than I could see Hamilton's Oak as Pierre. Personality, not so much voice.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/16
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#189
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:26pm
I'm actually very interested in seeing Bernadette's Dolly. I think it will be very different from what we've seen from the part before. Bette plays Dolly in her own persona, while Donna's almost like seeing Fanny Brice as Dolly (both brilliant). I suspect that Bernadette's Dolly will be sexier and kind of cutesy. Bernadette's vaudevillian style of comedy will probably lend itself very well to the show.
Also, I would love to see Harvey Fierstein play Dolly sometime. He'd be hysterical, fabulous, and would bear a striking vocal resemblance to Carol Channing.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#190
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:34pm
GeorgeandDot said: "I'm actually very interested in seeing Bernadette's Dolly. I think it will be very different from what we've seen from the part before. Bette plays Dolly in her own persona, while Donna's almost like seeing Fanny Brice as Dolly (both brilliant). I suspect that Bernadette's Dolly will be sexier and kind of cutesy. Bernadette's vaudevillian style of comedy will probably lend itself very well to the show.
Also, I would love to see Harvey Fierstein play Dolly sometime. He'd be hysterical, fabulous, and would bear a striking vocal resemblance to Carol Channing.
You raise a good point on Bernadette's vaudevillian style of comedy. Bette is playing Bette (not a bad thing), and Donna has created this complex character with just the right amount of comedy. Both are excellent. But I truly think Bernadette will put a unique spin on the character to distance herself from Bette and Donna.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#191
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:48pm
Peters is a truly gifted comedian. Of course she has a history working with comedy giants like Carol Burnett and Steve Martin (her performance in THE JERK is severely underrated), and she has a knack for comedic timing that few can match. Her line deliveries in INTO THE WOODS are the funniest of any Witch I've seen/heard, she also found comedy in the most improbable places in SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. And Peters' "Sondheim, Etc." album remains one of my all-time favorites in large part because of her jokes. I can't wait to see what she'd do with the eating scene or the scene at Irene Molloy's hat shop.
Ljay, that is just nuts! God bless Herman's heart and his contributions to musical theatre, but he says sounds incredibly old-fashioned and regressive in the worst way possible (the "too ethnic" Patti comment, his refusal to let Encores! do his shows, his unwillingness to let directors tinker with Gower Champion). Oh well, it's his work, I guess it's his right, but come on, Patti LuPone would nail Dolly.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#192
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:56pm
What about Ben Platt?
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#193
Posted: 8/25/17 at 9:58pm
Call_me_jorge said: "What about Ben Platt?
I'll never get tired of saying that he would be a top tier Barnaby 
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#194
Posted: 8/25/17 at 10:20pm
No, I'm saying for Dolly. Ben Platt as Dolly would be the most amazing thing conceived.
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#195
Posted: 8/25/17 at 10:40pm
George&Dot: Harvey Fierstein???? Yes, he'd be great but who would expect him to marry David Hyde Pearce?
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#196
Posted: 8/25/17 at 11:03pm
JayElle said: "George&Dot: Harvey Fierstein???? Yes, he'd be great but who would expect him to marry David Hyde Pearce?
"
His theatrical career has him partnered with the likes of Dick Latessa, Christopher Sieber, and Jeffrey Tambor while donning a dress, not to mention Matthew Broderick in his earlier years. DHP really doesn't seem like a stretch for a show that has a certain level of camp and kitsch.
Featured Actor Joined: 2/25/17
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#198
Posted: 8/26/17 at 2:44pm
SomethingPeculiar said: "Someone on the other board suggested Whoopi, which I think would be BRILLIANT and she could definitely sell out a few months worth of shows.
That really would be a great idea.
"
Bernadette To Replace Bette?#199
Posted: 8/27/17 at 8:28pm
Whoopi may be a popular idea, but she just signed for another year on "The View" the end of July - so she's committed to ABC/Disney for the next full year. If Dolly is still running a year from now (and I'm sure it will be unless Peters closes the show with horrible reviews), then maybe Whoopi would be a choice if she doesn't renew once again. It will be interested to see how they handle this.
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