ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "broadwayboy222 said: "It seems as though her name is not being used on the playbill covers, which makes me wonder in regards to merch sales......"
Actor names don't ever appear on the cover of playbills. But I HIGHLY doubt Carolee's name will appear on any merch items, since she is not above the title. Logistically, it's also good to have "evergreen" items for the tour. (Dolly is also one of the only shows that has featured the star's name on the merch, a precedent that was only started because of Bette Midler.)"
Not precisely; it started long before the current revival, and usually featured the star's name whether it was in NY, on tour, or even in regional/stock (for instance, Molly Picon did a couple turns in Dolly and had her name on the front of the program for the North Shore Music Theatre near Boston). The old international tour featured Mary Martin's name and image on the program, and the programs sold during the Broadway run featured the black-and-white photo of the Dolly of the day: Channing, Rogers, Grable, Raye, Bailey, Diller, and Merman. The window cards all also featured the star's name prominently, starting with Carol Channing.
To date the only regularly-scheduled Broadway or touring Dolly whose name has not appeared on any kind of merchandise is Donna Murphy, likely because she was an alternate and it would not have been cost-effective to produce an entire second merch line for one show per week (and, supposedly, because Midler got a cut of the merch sales).
ETA: Dollypop might know more on this front than I do as well!
Updated On: 9/25/19 at 11:55 PM
