Hello Dolly

[+ WilliamM]

Saw Bernadette last night, she was terrific, as is this production

 

Why would you see "Hello, Dolly" when shows like "Three Tall Women" are starting previews? Even the shows on Broadway before like "Carousel" and "Angels in America" would seem like a better choice.

[BroadwayDave]

Saw Bernadette last night, she was terrific, as is this production. How do you replace a legend? You get another legend!

This is a great production with a new cast and they all are superb. This is classic Broadway theater and the audience loved it and was on their feet screaming and applauding before the curtain fell. I will try to see this show again.

 

Of note is the adorable actor/dancer Charlie Stems in the role of Barnaby Tucker. This kid was amazing. A relative unknown up until recently, he hails from the UK, where he received glowing notices in the revival of Half A Sixpence. His professional debt, not that long ago, was his role as a monkey in Wicked! Look out for this kid, he's a bundle of talent.

 

http://static.playbill.com/dims4/default/29a9668/2147483647/crop/2021x1138%2B6%2B0/resize/970x546/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.playbill.com%2F36%2F61%2Ff2fe57a6465eb7091de1d296bb34%2Fcharlie-stemp.jpg

 

 

THANK YOU for this!!! I’ve been dying to see “Hello, Dolly!” and missed it with Bette Midler, and now that the show will be touring in the 2018/2019 season debuting in Cleveland I’ll probably not make it to Broadway to check it out there. And I’ve heard Charlie Stemp was a show stealer!

 

Once I get to NYC I’ll still probably see the show, along with “Frozen” and a few others (“Anastasia”, “The Band’s Visit”, “My Fair Lady”, etc.) that are of personal interest. Some of the others just look boring to me. We all don’t like the same thing!

[BroadwayDave]

Why would you see "Hello, Dolly" when shows like "Three Tall Women" are starting previews? Even the shows on Broadway before like "Carousel" and "Angels in America" would seem like a better choice.

 

 

It’s why people would rather see “The Phantom of the Opera”, or “The Lion King”, “Waitress”, Disney’s “Aladdin”, “Beautiful”, “The Book of Mormon”, “Come From Away”, “Hamilton”, “Kinky Boots”, “Wicked”, “Dear Evan Hansen”, or even “Escape to Margaritaville”. It was the show they picked. It was the show they wanted to see. Not the one you picked, or the one you think is a better choice.

 

We all have different interests, like different things. It’s what fills the 25+ theaters on Broadway with patrons. Personal tastes. And choices.

Edited February 22, 2018 by BroadwayDave

[bostonman]

I wish I could make it into NYC more often. My priorities at the moment would be the upcoming Frozen and Carousel, as I have colleagues in both. But I would indeed like to see Bernadette in Dolly as well - and also the Encores' Me And My Girl, as I've always loved that show. I'd also love to revisit Once On This Island which I saw in previews and would like to see again. But I doubt I will get to all of those.

[edjames]

Why would you see "Hello, Dolly" when shows like "Three Tall Women" are starting previews? Even the shows on Broadway before like "Carousel" and "Angels in America" would seem like a better choice.

 

Why? One easy answer...I ALREADY HAVE TICKETS for Three Tall Women and Angels In America. I'm still debating Carousel. I've seen several productions over the years.

 

Also, I guess you don't realize that sometimes a new lead can bring a new experience to a show (see NYT review) and I delight in everything that is Bernadette. She is the consummate performer.

 

ED

[edjames]

NYTimes review of the updated cast for Hello Dolly:

Review: The ‘Dolly’ Parade Marches On, Now With a New Star

Bernadette Peters, who is taking over the role of Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!” from Bette Midler.

The hit musical revival introduced four fresh principals on Thursday evening. CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

A dimply new star has joined the cast of “Hello, Dolly!” and he’s delightful — oh wait.

 

Perhaps you weren’t asking about Charlie Stemp, the replacement Barnaby Tucker in the hit musical revival that introduced four fresh principals on Thursday evening.

 

O.K., then: A dimply new star has joined the cast of “Hello, Dolly!” and she’sdelightful.

 

And something more, too.

 

Bernadette Peters, who turns 70 next week, doesn’t need to step into anyone’s shoes at this point in her 60-year Broadway career. That she would take over the role of Dolly Levi from Bette Midler (and her alternate, Donna Murphy) means she was interested in the challenge, not the provenance. I imagine she understood that there was something she could bring to the part that no one else could.

 

That something is not a stage personality filled with gregarious high spirits. Ms. Peters is neither the hoyden type nor the winking type, at least not since her days as a self-parodying chorine. Where Ms. Midler wrung laughs from a line like “I’m tired, Ephraim, tired of living from hand to mouth” — sometimes even pretending to collapse in decrepitude — Ms. Peters doesn’t even go for a giggle. She makes it clear that Dolly is talking about real hardships: the anxiety of work and the loneliness of a widow.

 

Ms. Peters is in fact a widow. (Her husband died in a helicopter crash in 2005.) So is Ms. Murphy, who nevertheless seemed to revel, like Ms. Midler, in the role’s brightest colors. For all the thoughtfulness she brought to the character, Ms. Murphy was more than comfortable with Dolly’s swanning tours of the passerelle; she giddily partook in the loop of absorption and reflection that eventually whips the audience’s love into a kind of hysteria.

 

Ms. Peters gets all that, and returns it. She sings the Jerry Herman songs thrillingly, of course. But if her performance is more like Ms. Murphy’s than like Ms. Midler’s, it has an even darker underlay. I don’t mean that she isn’t funny; she is — though I’m not sure I really believed, in the famous scene at the Harmonia Gardens, that a woman so disciplined in her diet that she will eat just “three smiles of grapefruit” for breakfast would ever chow down on the giant turkey leg set before her.

 

Photo

 

The darkness is more of an aura or predilection. Ms. Peters seems most truly herself not in charm numbers like “I Put My Hand In” but in spoken or sung soliloquies like “Before the Parade Passes By.” In such moments Dolly, the old meddler, isn’t conning anyone; she’s being honest with herself. The final scenes, even as they bring her financial and marital woes to an end, are heartbreaking in the way all successful campaigns are if looked at closely enough.

 

That’s something you don’t really expect to see in a 1960s musical comedy, especially one as lovingly and successfully reincarnated as “Hello, Dolly!” is in Jerry Zaks’s revival. The explosion-in-a-Necco-factory sets and costumes (by Santo Loquasto) and the eccentric Gower Champion choreography, restaged by Warren Carlyle, continue to astonish; you actually gasp at the hats and postures.

 

But a gap may be opening up between the production’s style and Ms. Peters’s. Mr. Stemp and the other new principals — Victor Garber as Dolly’s intended, Horace Vandergelder; Molly Griggs as the milliner’s assistant, Minnie Fay — match the bright polish of the original cast, which has grown a bit zany with time.

Mr. Garber has a breezier take on Vandergelder than did David Hyde Pierce; the subtext of his bluster is never really in doubt. Ms. Griggs is charming and light as a bubble. And Mr. Stemp, as a 17-year-old clerk looking for adventure, doesn’t seem so much excitable as convulsive. Mr. Carlyle has given him some acrobatic new dance moves to make hay of his hyperkinesis.

 

Ms. Peters goes along with all this, to a point. But sometimes I felt she would rather observe the parade than be in it. (Showbiz was never her idea.) Personally, I’m a sucker for that: I think it gives this “Dolly” a fascinating new valence.

 

And “Dolly” can handle it. After all, it has accommodated actresses as different as Carol Channing (the original) and Tovah Feldshuh over the years. However peppy and farcical it gets, it is built on a strong foundation; Michael Stewart’s book draws heavily on the dramatic and real-world wisdom of its immediate source, Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker.”

 

That play, itself worth reviving, is filled with philosophical asides that the musical borrows almost whole. “The surest way to keep us out of harm is to give us the four or five human pleasures that are our right in the world,” goes the best of these asides, and as spoken passionately by Ms. Peters, herself one of those four or five human pleasures, it has never sounded so true.

 

“And that takes a little money,” she adds.

 

Also true.

[rogerG]

We all have different interests, like different things. It’s what fills the 25+ theaters on Broadway with patrons. Personal tastes. And choices.

Exactly. I can't believe the rudeness of some people. Not only are they rude, they assume wrongful details. Sheesh.

[+ WilliamM]

Also, I guess you don't realize that sometimes a new lead can bring a new experience to a show (see NYT review) and I delight in everything that is Bernadette. She is the consummate performer.

 

Of course I know that. I started attending Broadway shows in 1959 when I was in high school. But I do apologize. I live in Philadelphia so I am unlikely to attend the same musical again right away unless a star whom I had never seen before in person. I have written several time I have never seen "Hello Dolly" and was too sick to come to NYC the day I had a ticket to Bette Midler in the musical around Christmas.

 

I saw "Funny Girl" instead in 1964. Why did I select "Funny Girl"? Because I know Ethel Merman and soon after Mary Martin turning down "Hello Dolly"

Edited February 24, 2018 by WilliamM

[+ nycman]

I keep rereading that NYTimes review of the new cast....

 

It goes in circles and I still can’t figure out if they liked it or not.

 

Isn’t that the definition of a poorly written review?

[rogerG]

I still can’t figure out if they liked it or not.

New Yorkers love Bernadette Peters, but I don't know any who were dying to see her as Dolly. I haven't seen the Peters' version, but the publicity stills make her look rather frumpy. Bette, on the other hand, was a different story. Dolly seemed a perfect fit for her.

[Lankypeters]

but the publicity stills make her look rather frumpy.

 

 

She looks like a bystander. When she made her entrance in the revival of "Annie Get Your Gun," she had the star appeal of an extra. Not a fan.

[+ Avalon]

 

That's my favoroite Barbra Streisand movie.

 

I fancied Barnaby.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Lockin

Edited March 8, 2018 by Avalon

[bostonman]

The Louis Armstrong appearance, albeit fun, is one of the film's most brazen anomalies. The film even goes as far as to clarify, onscreen at the beginning, that it's taking place in 1890.

 

Armstrong wasn't born until 1901.

 

Now, yes, one could rationalize that he's not really playing himself, but merely a character named Louis (they could at least given him a different name?) - but given Armstrong's huge association with the song, etc, it's really hard not to see this as anything except a cameo appearance as himself.

 

But yeah, it's also a fun moment in the film, notwithstanding. As long as one's disbelief is suspended as far as possible.

[BroadwayDave]

Now looking forward to my first-ever on Broadway show! Since “Hello, Dolly!” isnt coming to Pittsburgh for the 2018/2019 touring season, looks like I’m going to NYC to see this. Bought my ticket for the May 30th 8pm show - snagged a front row Center Mezzanine seat Row A. It’s funny because I had been looking the past couple of days and that seat wasn’t there. Saw it last night and bought it!

[Cooper]

Bette Midler returning to Broadway this summer

 

Bette Midler will return to Broadway, playing another six weeks in the title role of “Hello, Dolly!” before the revival closes this summer.

Scott Rudin, the show’s lead producer, said early Friday he would close the show on Aug. 25, about 17 months after performances began. The show opened to strong reviews and won four Tony Awards, including for best musical revival and for Ms. Midler’s performance.

Ms. Midler, who played the title role until January, will return on July 17. She will succeed Bernadette Peters, who has been playing the role since Ms. Midler departed the cast; Ms. Peters’s final performance will be July 15.

David Hyde Pierce and Gavin Creel will also rejoin the cast as Horace Vandergelder and Cornelius Hackl. Mr. Creel had also won a Tony Award for his performance.

A touring production of the revival is scheduled to start in October in Cleveland, starring Betty Buckley.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Bette Midler returning to Broadway this summer

 

Bette Midler will return to Broadway, playing another six weeks in the title role of “Hello, Dolly!” before the revival closes this summer.

Scott Rudin, the show’s lead producer, said early Friday he would close the show on Aug. 25, about 17 months after performances began. The show opened to strong reviews and won four Tony Awards, including for best musical revival and for Ms. Midler’s performance.

Ms. Midler, who played the title role until January, will return on July 17. She will succeed Bernadette Peters, who has been playing the role since Ms. Midler departed the cast; Ms. Peters’s final performance will be July 15.

David Hyde Pierce and Gavin Creel will also rejoin the cast as Horace Vandergelder and Cornelius Hackl. Mr. Creel had also won a Tony Award for his performance.

A touring production of the revival is scheduled to start in October in Cleveland, starring Betty Buckley.

 

I was really hoping they would cycle through some more interesting Dollys.

 

Midler seemed fully over it by the end of her first run, much in the same way she performed during the last few months of her Vegas stint.

[bostonman]

David Hyde Pierce and Gavin Creel will also rejoin the cast as Horace Vandergelder and Cornelius Hackl.

 

This is much better stated than another press release I saw where it was said that Midler had "lured" Pierce and Creel back into the show with her. Made it all sound very creepy to me.

[BroadwayDave]

From today:

 

 

[BroadwayDave]

Snagged me another ticket to see “Hello, Dolly!”. Now I’ll get to see Bernadette Peters (end of May) and Bette Midler (mid-August). Very, VERY excited!

[+ purplekow]

Would love to see Dolly Parton do Hello Dolly. Not just because of the name. I think Dolly could do Dolly proud.

[bostonman]

Would love to see Dolly Parton do Hello Dolly. Not just because of the name. I think Dolly could do Dolly proud.

 

Has she ever done a live stage musical before? Not to my knowledge... She never even took the opportunity to star in her own musical, the way such performers as Billie Joe Armstrong and Sara Bareilles have done in recent years. (And I tend to doubt we'll be seeing a major revival of 9 To 5 anytime in our lives...)

 

It seems her only shot would be the upcoming national tour, or maybe a stock production somewhere, as once Peters finishes up, Midler is back in, and then it closes. And I assume that Buckley is contracted to stay in the tour for a significant amount of time. But if the tour does really well (as it should), they will definitely need another star name to take over for Buckley eventually...

[BroadwayDave]

The last of my tickets arrived yesterday: “Hello, Dolly!” with Bette Midler in August.

 

Now I have all of the tickets in-hand for all my shows between now and the end of summer: “The Band’s Visit”, “Hello, Dolly!” (Bernadette Peters), “Hello, Dolly!” (Bette Midler), and “My Fair Lady”, all on Broadway; “Hamilton” in Cleveland for my birthday; and Disney’s “Aladdin” in Philadelphia.

 

And I may be getting an advance ticket for “Hello, Dolly!” at the National Tour Launch in Cleveland for October.

 

Very excited about all of this!

Edited May 22, 2018 by BroadwayDave

[handiacefailure]

Hello Dolly is also going to be in Chicago. I hope I can get tickets to see it in either Chicago or Cleveland, big Betty Buckley fan.

[BroadwayDave]

Saw the show last week in NYC with Bernadette Peters. She was absolutely amazing. Wrote a long review of my experience...

 

“HELLO, DOLLY!” with Bernadette Peters (spoilers ahead)

 

My seat was front row center mezzanine A104. With the exception of a tiny bit of height on the balcony wall in front of me that blocked the very front of the passerelle, which really was never an issue, the view was absolutely perfect. Leg room was a little cramped but enough where I could be comfortable.

 

I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this show, from opening Overture until that stunning red curtain closed at the end. And then it got even better with the final high-flying dance and cast bows, and everyone singing “Hello, Dolly!” once again. As the audience had done several times that night, they went nuts when Bernadette came out for her curtain call to the biggest, roaring cheer and applause I have ever heard. Only second to that was when she first showed up from behind that newspaper on the “horse”-drawn trolly. It was nearly deafening. In a good way. Even she had to pause her lines until it ended. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

 

Bernadette played the role of Dolly Levi with such passion, that at those times she was speaking to her dearly departed husband Ephraim, you felt like you were listening in on a private conversation. And the next to last time she talked to Ephraim your heart broke when she asked him to “let me go” so that she could marry Horace. I had a lump so big in my throat I thought I was going to ball like a baby.

 

The absolute highlight of the show, and there were quite a few, was the jaw dropping, extraordinary song “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”. Nothing was more beautiful, colorful, amazing, and sung so marvelous as this. All those soaring voices, all that grand music, together reaching an incredible fever pitch of perfection. It was breathtaking.

 

Next in the line of the “visually impressive” was the Harmonia Gardens set. All that luxurious, sumptuous RED. The only problem I had with this entire “scene” was that I thought The “Waiters’ Gallop” went on a bit tooooo long. It got repetitive and I personally thought it could be shortened.

 

And finally, the 14th Street Parade ensemble. This was just amazing.

 

But Dolly’s Harmonia Gardens “entrance”, and that eye-catching dress, necklace, and headpiece...just WOW! Can she ever glide effortlessly down those stairs, as if ‘floating’ on a cloud of incredible style and elegance.

 

Favorite songs:

 

“Before the Parade Passes By” - at the beginning the audience got so quiet it was deafening, and my heart wanted to reach out to Dolly and tell her it’s not too late, that you could feel how lonely she had really been, and by the end of the song how determined she was to get back out there and truly enjoy life.

 

When Kate Baldwin sang “Ribbons Down My Back”. God, can this woman sing like an angel.

 

And of course, the Harmonia Gardens rendition of “Hello, Dolly!” - a timeless classic.

 

The remaining songs were all wonderful, but those three stuck out the most.

 

One thing I did notice was that in “I Put My Hand In” (on the street outside the station) the street lamps did NOT pop up from the stage. And I was watching for them.

 

And most annoying were Ermengarde’s crying squeals. They actually hurt my ears due to a sensitivity to high pitched noises. When Dolly stuffed that scarf into her mouth... Thank you for that.

 

Bernadette’s incredible comedic timing throughout the show, and especially in the scenes where she is eating with Horace in the restaurant and again when it changes to the courthouse, made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes. There were several times when even Victor Garber would crack up, and the audience would just lose it! And Bernadette just kept going. The scooping up of the dumplings part of that scene was just over-the-top hilarious. And when it transitioned to the courthouse scene where she is stuffing her mouth and drinking the gravy was just hysterically priceless beyond words.

 

Favorite actor/actress other than Bernadette Peters was Charlie Stemp. This guy is amazing, and a smile that you can see for miles. And man can he dance!

 

The theater has no elevator, and there’s souvenir stands on the main level behind the orchestra seats, the top of the mezzanine level house-right, and in the basement next to the men’s restroom. Bathrooms are small, but the line seemed to go quickly.

 

I don’t think my heart has ever been as full of unmitigated, pure joy as when I walked out of the Shubert Theater. This show is total perfection, a one-of-a-kind style of entertainment without peer from start to finish.

 

The one word for this show is FABULOUS. And I’m honored to have been a witness to this historical run.

 

 

 

 

[BroadwayDave]