Back where they belong. Bette Midler. Hello, Dolly!
Michael Stewart's (book) and Jerry Herman's (music and lyrics) masterpiece, Hello, Dolly!, returns to Broadway starring none other than Bette Midler. Directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, Hello, Dolly! is playing Broadway's legendary Shubert Theatre.
This production, the first new production of Hello, Dolly! to appear on Broadway since it opened more than fifty years ago, will pay tribute to the original work of legendary director/choreographer Gower Champion, which has been hailed both then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history.
The new revival of Jerry Herman's 1964 'Hello, Dolly!' starring Bette Midler is so surpassingly beautiful, propelled by such glorious razzle-dazzle, and crafted with such joy and intelligence that it deserves to be studied, emulated and above all celebrated. Not since the 2008 revival of 'South Pacific' has a classic been brought back to life with as perfect a mixture of fidelity and freshness. This is what Broadway is all about.
Dolly's big Act I closer, 'Before The Parade Passes By' was limp the night I saw it, with the star searching for the key and clearly holding back on what wants to be a roof raiser...Perhaps they will improve with time. It certainly is the case that by Act II, Midler was in full command of the show, not only with her wonderful rasp of a voice at peak power, but with a sense of intimacy and, yes, feeling, that humanizes Dolly as she embarks on one of her many 'conversations' with her beloved, dead Ephraim. That makes 'So Long Dearie' truly touching and sends us out whistling all those happy tunes, happily.
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