RE: Hello Dolly on Great Performances?

[iamrkj]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 2:36am

Friends of mine saw HELLO DOLLY the week before it closed and several folks around them repeated the rumor that the show was taped for an upcoming episode of Great Performances and, further, that's one of the reasons why all the original cast members came back. Has anyone else heard this? It's not listed as part of their fall season but maybe in 2019? I think that would be terrific!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 8:11am

It's doubtful that they would have filmed without anyone knowing.  Possible, I suppose, but doubtful.  

[willep]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 8:56am

We know that it was filmed after they came back, we just don’t know what it was filmed for (Great Performances, cinema screenings, etc).

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 9:11am

willep said: "We know that it was filmed after they came back, we just don’t know what it was filmed for (Great Performances, cinema screenings, etc)."

 

Was that for distribution purposes?? I thought it had been debunked as b-roll for Bette’s Good Morning America feature. I hope it will get released (in cinemas or pbs or streaming)!

Was a big production van ever spotted outside the theater like for other filmed Broadway shows?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 9:28am

PBS doesn’t film anything. They simply purchase content rights for their Great Performances series, which is why you see some programs they’ve aired later appear on home video. PBS also doesn’t release those on home video, the original distributor of the content does.  

[bdn223]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:08am

I heard a rumor that the way Rudin enticed Bette into coming back was by promising her an oscar for her performance. So it will be screened in an awards qualifying run in December, followed by a limited release on Christmas day.

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:22am

I'm very skeptical of that Oscar claim. Rudin is no stranger to awards season and he knows you have to get out in front of it. Venice and Telluride are happening this week, and after those festivals finish, consensus will start to form around who are the frontrunners in each Oscar category. Pundits are already weighing in, Gold Derby has their prediction center open, the season has already begun (with Glenn Close being the early frontrunner for Lead Actress). A theatrical release would need to be announced immediately to get the buzz train going. As it is there are already a solid 15 women who are competitive for best actress, so coming in last minute with a taped Broadway performance would put her at a serious disadvantage and make it a huge uphill climb towards nomination.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:24am

I'll be surprised if this rumor is true. It would be amazing to see Georgette and Slim together onstage for the country to watch (Disney nerd joke intended) as Dolly and Horace.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:29am

bdn223 said: "I heard a rumor that the way Rudin enticed Bette into coming back was by promising her an oscar for her performance. So it will be screened in an awards qualifying run in December, followed by a limited release on Christmas day."

That rumor is nonsense.

[Valentina3]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:33am

bdn223 said: "I heard a rumor that the way Rudin enticed Bette into coming back was by promising her an oscar for her performance. So it will be screened in an awards qualifying run in December, followed by a limited release on Christmas day."

That's the lamest rumor I have ever heard. That being said, I secretly can't wait for Bette to stream-roll the Oscar orchestra and give a solid 7 minute speech, AND an Oscar performance of the title number in full costume.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:36am

If anything, the London production will be filmed for cinemas. It's cheaper to do that overseas.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:56am

That rumor may be nonsense, but a Bette Middler vs. Lady Gaga smackdown would be the most exciting Oscar race in a while.

[nealb1]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 10:57am

HD being screened at movie theatres so Bette can win an Oscar is something that would never happen.  I know you're repeating what you heard, and I'm sure you can see how far-fetched that is.  

As we all know it was filmed back in January for archival purposes only.  If it was filmed again during Bette's six week return, we certainly would have known about it.  

Updated On: 8/30/18 at 10:57 AM

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 11:04am

VotePeron said: "That rumor may be nonsense, but a Bette Middler vs. Lady Gaga smackdown would be the most exciting Oscar race in a while."

Has anyone ever been nominated for an Oscar for a filmed stages performance shown in theaters? Also, it would have to play an actual theatrical run, as a 1 or 2-night Fathom Event wouldn't qualify for the Oscars. 

If a performance we didn't see yet, and a performance that wasn't filmed, are our best bets for Oscars, that's a bad year for cinema.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 11:07am

ARE there any live filmed  stage shows that have been released for more then a few days as a special event?

[Kad]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 11:14am

Filming it so it can be broadcast on television so Bette could be nominated for an Emmy is more plausible but still a pipe dream.

And no, a filmed live stage performance has never been nominated for an Academy Award. And frankly, one should never be. They're different performing styles. What works on stage doesn't work the same way on film, especially when you'd be comparing performances.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 11:30am

Just read the Rules & Eligibility for Oscar consideration and as long as the filmed HELLO, DOLLY! isn’t shown on television or online prior to it being shown theatrically, it does qualify. The rule is it must be shown theatrically first.  

Highly doubt the voting members would consider it but technically it does qualify.   

[thirtythirtyninety]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 12:12pm

The Library for the Performing Arts taped the show on both 01/14 and 06/29, but of course those recordings are for their archives, not for public screenings.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 12:19pm

Why did the library film it twice?

[ozjust4]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 12:27pm

CATSNYrevival said: "Why did the library film it twice?"

 

One with Bette, one with Bernadette?

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 1:12pm

''Has anyone ever been nominated for an Oscar for a filmed stages performance shown in theaters?''

Actually, yes. James Whitmore got a 1975 Oscar nomination for ''Give 'Em Hell, Harry!,'' a filmed version of his one-man show about President Harry S Truman. It was videotaped at a live performance with nine cameras and later transferred to celluloid. Roger Ebert said it looked ''like a good 16mm print blown up to 35mm.''

Whitmore was the film's entire cast and remains the only actor who's been Oscar-nominated for a solo performance.

As for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at Lincoln Center, yes, it was taped twice: first with Bette, then Bernadette.

If this ''Hello, Dolly!''  is getting taped for general viewership, the likeliest theory is that it's done in London, where it would cost much less. If it were broadcast, it could be eligible for Emmy consideration.  Angela Lansbury and George Hearn were both Emmy-nominated for their televised ''Sweeney Todd'' (and Hearn won). And the HDTV version of ''Memphis,'' which first played in movie theaters, won the Emmy for Techical Direction, Camera Work and Video Control  as part of PBS' ''Great Performances.'' 

Updated On: 8/30/18 at 01:12 PM

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 1:44pm

Very interesting, thank you Wayman!

[DAME]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 3:05pm

Wayman_Wong said: "''Has anyone ever been nominated for an Oscar for a filmed stages performance shown in theaters?''

Actually, yes. James Whitmore got a 1975 Oscar nomination for ''Give 'Em Hell, Harry!,'' a filmed version of his one-man show about President Harry S Truman. It was videotaped at a live performance with nine cameras and later transferred to celluloid. Roger Ebert said it looked ''like a good 16mm print blown up to 35mm.''

Whitmore was the film's entire cast and remains the only actor who's been Oscar-nominated for a solo performance.

As for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at Lincoln Center, yes, it was taped twice: first with Bette, then Bernadette.

If this ''Hello, Dolly!'' is getting taped for general viewership, the likeliest theory is that it's done in London, where it would cost much less. If it were broadcast, it could be eligible for Emmy consideration. Angela Lansbury and George Hearn were both Emmy-nominated for their televised ''Sweeney Todd'' (and Hearn won). And the HDTV version of ''Memphis,'' which first played in movie theaters, won the Emmy for Techical Direction, Camera Work and Video Control as part of PBS' ''Great Performances.''"

I was told that only the Dancing sequence featuring CS was filmed for inclusion with the archive.  Not a entire Bernadette performance.

Updated On: 8/30/18 at 03:05 PM

[Wick3]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 4:19pm

DAME said: "I was told that only the Dancing sequence featuring CS was filmed for inclusion with the archive. Not a entire Bernadette performance."

Cool! I was hoping Beanie in Dancing would be filmed too as I loved her in the end of the sequence when she can finally do a tap dance with the ensemble (after she left Charlie Stemp took over that role)

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/30/18 at 4:26pm

I would only believe that Bette/oscar rumor if it meant Scott Rudin was going to produce an actual film of the musical.