Hello Dolly with Donna Murphy

[foxy]

Just saw on TDF tickets for Hello Dolly are $47. So if you want to see the show without taking out a second mortgage on the house this will be your chance. Donna Murphy will be stepping in whenever Bette Midler is taking a break.

[OneFinger]

Any clue how long her run will be? Going to NYC in April.

[+ Cash4Trash]

I believe Bette Midler's contract is up in January.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Murphy is brilliant.

 

In many ways superior to Midler... Catch her at a decent price while you can. A TDF membership is a must for anyone who loves theatre.

[+ WilliamM]

I hope Murphy takes over for Midler. But, the David Merrick method of "bring in a former movie star" is likely. Please let it not be Kim Novak who can not sing and likely would say no immediately anyway. So just kidding.

Edited July 5, 2017 by WilliamM

[foxy]

I'm trying to imagine Dolly Parton in the role. She already has the name. Seems she's on the list. This could turn out to be like Chicago where every few months someone new (and old) is dragged in to keep ticket sales going. Let's start our own list. Barbra Streisand maybe ha ha.

Edited July 5, 2017 by foxy

[+ WilliamM]

Dolly Parton is 71 and has never appeared on Broadway. It did not work for Lucille Ball in "Wildcat " in 1960-1961.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I know this sounds insane, but an acquaintance of mine who's connected to producing the show said that Rudin had approached Nathan Lane to take on the role of Dolly at some point down the road. After thinking it out a bit, I think he could be quite endearing if he didn't mug too much through it.

 

I'd love to see a suitably sung black Dolly, ala Pearl Bailey. There is no shortage of amazing women who could handle that. I'd love to see Heather Headley take a crack at it.

 

The weak spot in the show remains David Hyde Pierce. He's wildly inconsistent with his character. Some performance I've seen he seems fully engaged with the rest of the cast and others it feels like he's doing an entirely different show. Very odd.

[RyanDean]

Who you think would/could/should come in for Horace, @Benjamin_Nicholas? Or do you think DHP is in for the long haul?

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Who you think would/could/should come in for Horace, @Benjamin_Nicholas? Or do you think DHP is in for the long haul?

 

I believe he's under contract as long as Midler is, through January 2018.

 

I'd love to see Danny Burstein or Boyd Gaines take a crack at it.

[jerrybythesea]

Love to see Streisand take over from Bette in Jan....maybe give her an offer she cannot refuse like lots of $$$ and 5 perfs a week

[foxy]

[nynakedtop]

i saw donna murphy in "passion" - for those of you know the show, you can probably understand why i have trouble imagining her as ms. levi!

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

i saw donna murphy in "passion" - for those of you know the show, you can probably understand why i have trouble imagining her as ms. levi!

 

Her Fosca was fantastic. Murphy had that blend of melancholy, awkwardness and bitter self-concern that made her magnetic to watch.

 

Trivia: The part was actually originally offered to Patti LuPone, but she turned it down for Sunset Blvd in London.

[+ WilliamM]

Her Fosca was fantastic. Murphy had that blend of melancholy, awkwardness and bitter self-concern that made her magnetic to watch.

 

I saw Murphy as Lotte Lenya in the Kurt Weill musical Lovemusik.

@nynakedtop, She was wonderful as Lenya. I understand your point about Passion.

[bostonman]

i saw donna murphy in "passion" - for those of you know the show, you can probably understand why i have trouble imagining her as ms. levi!

 

You should have seen her in Wonderful Town, in a purely zany comic role. She's really a very versatile actress. I first saw her as Vera in Pal Joey in Boston - a role that needs equal parts comedy and drama, though the comedy part is certainly on the droll/dark side. (This was just before she did Passion.)

 

You also might be surprised to learn that she was also one of the original replacement Audreys in the off-Broadway Little Shop Of Horrors. Hard to imagine, huh?

 

However, Forbidden Broadway did tap into your reservations, doing a marvelous parody of her when she was playing Anna in The King And I just after she did Passion. Called "I Whistle A Sondheim Tune," the idea was that she would be carrying too much of Passion's darkness into the (mostly) "bright and breezy" world of Anna. Very funny.

[bostonman]

Her Fosca was fantastic. Murphy had that blend of melancholy, awkwardness and bitter self-concern that made her magnetic to watch.

 

Trivia: The part was actually originally offered to Patti LuPone, but she turned it down for Sunset Blvd in London.

 

I saw the original Passion twice. I would recommend the filmed version (the original production filmed on the set with all the original cast, but not with an audience) for anyone who did not get to see it live. But one thing the cameras don't capture well enough on the video is Murphy's first entrance down the staircase, when she first introduces herself to Giorgio. In the theatre, you couldn't take your eyes off this odd creature who was making her way down those stairs. Hard to describe why it was so unique, but it was.

 

LuPone did later get to play the role in one of those over-concepted Lonny Price concert thingies (which was also filmed and televised on PBS). Not bad, but not nearly as nuanced or well-sung as Murphy. Murphy really LIVED that role.

 

I truly wish I had been able to see coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay do the role in Paris last year. (Partly because it would have been amazing to see, and partly because the Clara in that production is a friend and colleague of mine from Boston.) They did do a radio broadcast, and I do have to say I was really pleasantly surprised by Dessay's sound. Not the kind of role you'd ever think to hear her do - but she really made a case for it!

 

But Murphy really sets the extremely high bar for that role, IMO.

[bostonman]

Love to see Streisand take over from Bette in Jan....maybe give her an offer she cannot refuse like lots of $$$ and 5 perfs a week

 

I don't know, but I tend to think that Streisand is not about to take on a gig like that at this point in her career.

 

I will say that if she did, even I would consider running to see it lol (and I really don't like her in the film at all). But I doubt it would ever happen.

 

(Is the Gypsy film ever going to happen either, lol?)

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

(Is the Gypsy film ever going to happen either, lol?)

 

If it does, I gather the camera equipment will be sponsored by Vaseline.

[nynakedtop]

If it does, I gather the camera equipment will be sponsored by Vaseline.

with a respectful nod to Lucille Ball.

[bostonman]

with a respectful nod to Lucille Ball.

 

Ah, yes - the star of that legendary film version of Maimed.

 

(Poor Lucy - who was so damned amazing at what she was truly good at...but boy, did she have some "splainin" to do about that film...)

[actor61]

I know this sounds insane, but an acquaintance of mine who's connected to producing the show said that Rudin had approached Nathan Lane to take on the role of Dolly at some point down the road. After thinking it out a bit, I think he could be quite endearing if he didn't mug too much through it.

 

I'd love to see a suitably sung black Dolly, ala Pearl Bailey. There is no shortage of amazing women who could handle that. I'd love to see Heather Headley take a crack at it.

 

The weak spot in the show remains David Hyde Pierce. He's wildly inconsistent with his character. Some performance I've seen he seems fully engaged with the rest of the cast and others it feels like he's doing an entirely different show. Very odd.

I saw an interview with DHP in which he said that he didn't want to play Vandergelder at all when it was offered to him but his husband told him, "She's gonna come down that staircase whether you're in the show or not." So, he took the gig. He was unenthusiastic about it from the get-go so maybe that explains his inconsistent and bored performance.

 

If they were to do an interracial version of the show, I think Debbie Allen would be a great choice, and I'm not being sarcastic. She's the right age, can be very, very funny and certainly has the chops for the role. Nathan Lane isn't such an outlandish choice for Dolly. The long running London production had a version with Danny La Rue in the title role and the show sold out for months and months.

[+ WilliamM]

I think Debbie Allen would be a great choice, and I'm not being sarcastic. She's the right age, can be very, very funny and certainly has the chops for the role

 

Debbie Allen will be 68 when Bette Midler leaves the show.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Debbie Allen could work... As would Sheryl Lee Ralph.

 

I'd like to see a younger, sexier Dolly. I know they're clamouring for Bernadette Peters, but I just can't get behind that.

[+ WilliamM]

I'd like to see a younger, sexier Dolly. I know they're clamouring for Bernadette Peters, but I just can't get behind that.

 

I understand people are more healthy now, because smoking and even drinking are much less now than in the 1960s.

 

Still it can not be easy for Bette Midler to give seven spectacular performances in Dolly week after week, even with the vacations taken into consideration.

 

Note: The U.S. military provided free beer, cigarettes, postage and no federal income tax for those serving in Vietnam. Doubt it applied to the Hello, Dolly cast and crew in 1965 in Vietnam.