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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
...well, so much for YOUR opinion.
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*
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
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.
I never thought about Dixie Carter. She would be excellent in the role. My choice however would be Bette Midler.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
NO! They need to get Bette to do GYPSY when Bernedette leaves.
I would pay to see that one!
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.
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.
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!
Ana Gasteyer would bring comic inventiveness to the part as Channing did...............I think Faith Prince would also be a likely candidate.
Are you kidding?
Bernadette would be terrific!!
Broadway Star Joined: 5/30/03
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.
"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.
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
I reiterate: Dollypop was born to play the role.
Well, DP, for second choice, how about Dolly Parton?
Broadway Star Joined: 5/30/03
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.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/31/69
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
BOJ i think you mean Bette should be Rose as she was in the TV version...right?!?!?
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".
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
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.
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
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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