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a different Widow Levi...

a different Widow Levi...

TxTwoStep Profile Photo
TxTwoStep
#0a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 8:46pm

seeing Shirley MacLaine's name mentioned in the PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT thread (which is getting a bit long and personal to add to), made me think...if you were going to have a "revisal" of DOLLY, who would you see in it? what national name? Mine would be Debbie Reynolds or Dixie Carter...less known names would be Jean Smart or Debra Monk...read some of the quoted Dolly lines in DOLLYPOP's posts to get a feel for the kind of actress needed. As charming as the Channing/Champion version was, and to some degree the Streisand/Kelly one, i think the role (from MATCHMAKER) and score could stand a different take with a really good "personality actress" who can still sing.


Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys. "I guarantee that we'll have tough times. I guarantee that at some point one or both of us will want to get out. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life..."

Dollypop
#1re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 9:44pm

...well, so much for YOUR opinion.


"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

TxTwoStep Profile Photo
TxTwoStep
#2re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:01pm

i thought i had showed due deference to your opinion, DOLLYPOP, and apologize if you don't think so.

P.S. there's a few typos in your otherwise excellent quote from your favorite show. As you re-read it, any chance you'd consider that "without color and without LIFE" might apply to refusing to opening your mind about a recasting from the original?!??! Dolly doesn't insult that first oak leaf ("perfectly good"/"charming") but she seems eager to add another to her Bible...can we add another Dolly interpretation to the musical theatre canon? *wink*


Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys. "I guarantee that we'll have tough times. I guarantee that at some point one or both of us will want to get out. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life..."

Dollypop
#3re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:17pm

TGC was the definitive Dolly Gallagher Levi--although the great ladies who followed her in the role on Broadway were all commendable. However, the next time the show is mounted for a professional run, the producers would be wise to "Call on Dollypop". He was born to play the role. If Danny La Rue could play a successful run on London's West End, then Dollypop can do it on Broadway.

Enough said.


"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

Albin Profile Photo
Albin
#4re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:26pm

I never thought about Dixie Carter. She would be excellent in the role. My choice however would be Bette Midler.

#5a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 10:41pm

NO! They need to get Bette to do GYPSY when Bernedette leaves.

I would pay to see that one!

Theatreboy33 Profile Photo
Theatreboy33
#6re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/2/03 at 11:58pm

Well, the ARE in fact reviving the show, sometime around 2007. All of the herman classicsa re set to come back. My pick, like Albin's hands down, has to be Bette Midler. She would be perfect for the role.

TheaterBaby Profile Photo
TheaterBaby
#7re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 12:01am

I totally agree with Bette for Gypsy, but as far as Dolly, what about Megan Mulally? Or perhaps Christine Baranski (though I think she would be better in a revival of Mame). Dixie Carter is an interesting choice; I can picture it.


"It's the little things; the details, that distinguish the Barbra Streisands from the Rosalyn Kinds."~Gilmore Girls~

alterego Profile Photo
alterego
#8re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 9:03am

I like the idea of Dixie Carter but she maybe getting a little long in the tooth. How about Lucie Arnaz or even Patti Lupone. As long as it isn't Bernadette Peters!

TEACHEROFTHEATER Profile Photo
TEACHEROFTHEATER
#9re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 9:48am

Ana Gasteyer would bring comic inventiveness to the part as Channing did...............I think Faith Prince would also be a likely candidate.


"MAY YOUR LIFE BE AS BRIGHT AS BROADWAY AT NIGHT"
Updated On: 10/3/03 at 09:48 AM

Jaynrand Profile Photo
Jaynrand
#10re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 10:45am

Harvey?

robbiej Profile Photo
robbiej
#11re: re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 10:53am

Are you kidding?

Bernadette would be terrific!!


"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."

tpdc
#12re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 11:50am

Great post TxTwoStep. I also would love to see a revival that shakes off the Champion style. I think Mullaly would be a great choice. Prince and Smart are good choices as well. A friend of mine who isn't even a Bernadette fan thinks that this would be a perfect role for her. I think it needs to be cast with someone as young as Channing was when she did it in 64. I loved Channing when I saw her in it in the 80s but something new would be nice.

Albin Profile Photo
Albin
#13re: re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 11:58am

"I like the idea of Dixie Carter but she maybe getting a little long in the tooth."

Perfect. Then she'd have something in common with Carol Channing.

TxTwoStep Profile Photo
TxTwoStep
#14re: re: re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 6:49pm

i do think Bette would be great, but not sure she would do a tour or a Broadway run. Though it wasn't THAT long ago that she toured her music/comedy act, was it?!?!

i wish Baranski had a national name, but i'm afraid she still doesn't. And Mulally, though very talented, doesn't seem quite the right fit. Gastmeyer, whom i'd liked to have seen in the LSOH revival (no offense, Kerry) seems a bit young for it. And i don't think Dixie's too old at all---some of the great ladies who went into the NYC version were her age, i believe.

In a conversation today someone mentioned Glenn Close. i'm mixed about that possibility, any thoughts? i do think she can act, but is she funny enough?!?! Put the what-were-they-thinking SOUTH PATHETIC television version aside; leave us not forget her Main Stem turns in BARNUM and SUNSET.


Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys. "I guarantee that we'll have tough times. I guarantee that at some point one or both of us will want to get out. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life..."

Dollypop
#15re: re: re: re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 10:55pm

I reiterate: Dollypop was born to play the role.


"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

MasterLcZ Profile Photo
MasterLcZ
#16 re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 11:01pm

Well, DP, for second choice, how about Dolly Parton?


"Christ, Bette Davis?!?!"

tpdc
#17re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 11:11pm

I think Close would be all wrong. She can be funny but not in the way Dolly calls for. Wasn't there a lot of talk about Midler doing a Dolly revival a couple of years ago and then she backed out? I think it was right after her TV series flopped. Dixie Carter would have been good 20 years ago. Channing was in her 40s in 64. SWEENEY TODD was the first show to sell out at last summer's Sondheim fest and I don't think it was Mitchell's name that was the draw. Baranski created a stir here. Between her current sitcom, her film roles, her Emmys for CYBILL, her Tonys and being in the big hit CHICAGO movie last year, I think she has national name recognition. And I'd rather see her as Dolly than as Mame.

#18re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 11:15pm

okay I said it once I will say it again.

Christine Baranski should play VERA to CHER's MAME

and

Bette Midler should be GYPSY

TxTwoStep Profile Photo
TxTwoStep
#19re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/3/03 at 11:55pm

BOJ i think you mean Bette should be Rose as she was in the TV version...right?!?!?


Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys. "I guarantee that we'll have tough times. I guarantee that at some point one or both of us will want to get out. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life..."

alterego Profile Photo
alterego
#20re: re: re: re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/4/03 at 10:40am

I'd really like to see Bernadette Peters take a long, long vacation from the stage. Enough OK? As Dorothy Parker once said (about another actress, but could very well be talking about BP), "she runs the gammut of emotions from A to B".

#21 a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/4/03 at 11:12am

yeah yeah yeah I meant Rose in Gypsy.

And I must say that I am still trying to figure out a good replacement for the fabulous Carol Channing...

Can someone like Mercedez Rheul (I spelled her name horribly I am sure) or Laine Kazan sing? They would be good.

TxTwoStep Profile Photo
TxTwoStep
#22re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/4/03 at 2:09pm

wasn't Lainie a stand-by or something in FUNNY GIRL? i think she does sing. Don't know about Mercedes Ruehl, but she's a great actress.


Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys. "I guarantee that we'll have tough times. I guarantee that at some point one or both of us will want to get out. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life..."

Dollypop
#23re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/5/03 at 12:09am

Lainie Kazan can most definitely sing. Yes, she understudied That Streisand Woman in FUNNY GIRL--and got fired because Babs resented the front page coverage she got for going on for the back-stabbing Diva. I also saw Lainie as Mama Rose in GYPSY at the Westbury Music Fair a few years ago. She was so sensational that words can't adequately describe her performance.


"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

PJ
#24re: re: re: a different Widow Levi...
Posted: 10/5/03 at 12:51am

Bette's singing in the TV version of GYPSY was fine, but it was the acting that did her in. It was too campy and didn't have near enough emotion.


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