On April 20th, 2017 the revival of HELLO DOLLY opened on Broadway starring Bette Midler and David Hyde-Pierce in the leading rolls of Dolly Levy and Horace Vandergelder. In January of 2018 Bernadette Peters and Victor Garber took on the iconic roles and the show continues to stay strong running at The Schubert Theater in NYC. It was recently announced that Ms. Midler would return to the role in the summer and that Betty Buckley would soon be touring the show with a national touring company.
HELLO DOLLY was originally produced in 1964 starring Carol Channing. It ran on Broadway until the early 70s. The film version starring Barbara Streisand and Walter Matthau directed by Gene Kelly was released in December of 1969 and still has a loyal following. What makes HELLO DOLLY unique? Why did it speak so loudly to us in the 1960s and why is it speaking to us again in 21st Century?
HELLO DOLLY tells the story of Dolly Gallaher Levi an older woman who had lost her husband, Ephraim Levi, several years before the play opens. We know from the conversations that Dolly has with various other characters in the play and with monologues that she delivers directly to the audience, that her marriage was wonderful. That the love she and her husband shared spilled out into the lives of others making them friends with anyone they came in contact with.
When Dolly loses her husband, she is loses herself in grief. She spends years alone going through the motions of life of but not really living until one night an oak leaf fell out of her Bible, she goes on to tell us, by way of speaking to her deceased spouse, “I had placed it there the day you asked me to marry you. A perfectly good oak leaf, but with out color and without life, and I suddenly realized that I was like that oak leaf… for years I had not shed one tear not had I been filled with that wonderful hope that something or other would turn out well. And so, I have decided to rejoin the human race, and Ephraim I want you to give me away.
Dolly path to “rejoin the human race” involves marrying the cantankerous richest man in Yonkers New York Mr. Horace Vandergelder. Dolly tells us flat out that she is marrying Vandergelder for his money, but she has every intention of making him happy. She makes it clear that she wants to “circulate his money among the people like rain water they way you (Ephraim) taught me to.” She also asks her husband for some kind of sign that he approves of her plan. At one point in the play Dolly explains her late husband’s and her own philosophy of money. “Money, if you pardon the expression, is like manure, it’s not worth a thing unless it is spread around encouraging young things to grow.” This philosophy becomes very important at the end of the show.
Through some scheming and manipulation Dolly does indeed marry Horace. Along the way she brings she together not one but three other couples. She also gets her sign from Ephraim when Horace, who has been portrayed through out the play as a bit of a tightwad, proclaims the exact same philosophy of money that Dolly’s late husband had.
HELLO DOLLY, is based on a play by Thornton Wilder entitled THE MATCHMAKER. It streams line the play a bit by eliminating a few major characters and making the main focus Dolly’s reentrance into life. The music and lyrics written by Jerry Herman is one of the most joyous of any show ever produced. It has an Iconic Title Song which remains in the top ten of ASCAPS most popular songs ever recorded. The musical was originally going to be titled DOLLY, A DAMNED EXASPERATING WOMAN. But Louis Armstrong released the song Hello Dolly which comes into the show not far into the second act, while the show was still in out of towns try outs. the song became a hit before it’s opening in New York City. With a hit song on their hands the producers and writers agreed the name of the show would be changed to HELLO DOLLY.
Jerry Herman was a young composer, lyricist at the time when he wrote HELLO DOLLY, but he had a gift of seeing songs in a story. He is very much the poet of Broadway. Before DOLLY he had had moderate success with a show called MILK AND HONEY after DOLLY he would go on to write the blockbuster MAME, DEAR WORLD, MACK AND MABLE and LA CAGE AU FAUX.
Seeing the show HELLO DOLLY is much different than seeing the movie. First almost everyone agrees that Barbra Streisand, though an incredible talent, was much too young for the role. She was in her mid-20s when she made HELLO DOLLY and she hadn’t experienced enough of life yet to make herself believable in the role. She could sell the songs, but not the character. Consequently, the movie did not do very well. The funny thing is the same thing happened to Jerry Herman’s other hit MAME. Lucille Ball was cast as the lead in the film version of this show. A much younger Angela Lansbury originated the role on Broadway. Lucille Ball was in her 70s at the time and she was too old to play Mame. If the producers had thought just a little the best thing they could have done was for Lucy to play Dolly and Streisand to play Mame. I think there would have been two hit films if that had occurred, but the reality is neither film did well at the box office.
HELLO DOLLY was written and produced in 1964 with the United Sates still reeling from the assignation of President Kennedy. We were lost and wandering and needed something to bring hope back to our lives. DOLLY was the cure the doctor ordered. With it’s uplifting and positive story and with a score that lifts you out of yourself HELLO DOLLY is like drinking a glass of clear cold water on a parched summer day.
With the United States again in a state of being afraid and a bit lost. With racial tensions running high and with children killing children and the fear of terrorist attacks a constant threat. HELLO DOLLY comes back to us affirming that there is still life out there. That hope does still flourish. And that hard times do come to end. We can again drink from that cup of water and be thoroughly refreshed and ready live again.
HELLO DOLLY can currently be seen at The Shubert Theater in New York City. If that is out of reach for you the film version is available on DVD and Blu-ray as well as from various streaming outlets. As stated earlier in the article a national touring company will soon be making it’s way across the country look for that at a theater near you.
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