I agree that Hello, Dolly! is a romantic farce. A fantasy. There is nothing realistic about it, except its sentiment. It has a very real heart of gold and shows it proudly.
You can cast multi-racial leads without it hurting anything. It's not Ragtime, Show Boat, Fiddler, or Dreamgirls. Race isn't essential (or even considered) in the plot.
I would love to see Bette Middler as Dolly.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Can age be ignored as well? At 67, Midler's age may pose a problem in casting Horace, who also needs to be a believable suitor for Irene, who eventually falls for Cornelius, who is a very specific twenty-nine-and-three-quarters. Now, I know stage is different from screen, and her fans will say she doesn't look her age, but she certainly can't realistically pass for much younger. I'd love for this have to been discussed 10-15 years ago.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
I think age is only an issue in the sense that I sincerely doubt that Midler would sign on to a long run as Dolly. The role would be enormously physically taxing for a woman of any age, and Midler has been frank that the experience of doing the Vegas show recently really wore her out and made her realize she doesn't have the desire or stamina to do extended Musical engagements anymore. But, sure if they wanted to do it for television or they wanted to do it as an actor's fund concert for the Hollywood bowl for one night she'd be stellar.
An older Horace could be a feasible match for a younger Irene. That's not exactly an unbelievable thing for the turn of the century. He's wealthy and she's unmarried. It also could make the Cornelius/Irene romance more endearing and make the audience root for it more- an obvious, sincere romance over a pre-arranged terrible match.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Sounds like a perfect vehicle for City Center to bring back their short-lived Summer Stars series. With the right director she'd be a Dolly for the ages and it's been way too long since the show has had a top notch New York run.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I'd much rather see the likes of Reba McEntire, Patti LuPone or even Dolly Parton (imagine.. DOLLY is DOLLY!) in the role, but I'm sure Midler would be divine. Anything to get this treasure of a musical back on a Broadway stage.
Laura Benanti would be lovely with some ribbons down her back as well.
Americanboy, when I talked about the "right director" in my post that's who I was thinking of too. Wasn't LuPone supposed to be in a revival that Herman got in the way of? She'd be glorious in the role, I've been listening to the 2008 GYPSY cast recording nonstop for a few weeks now and she never stops blowing me away.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I think a GYPSY cast reunion (Gaines, LuPone, Benanti.. hell, even Leigh Ann Larkin as Mattie Faye) could work unbelievably well. Sher would, I'm sure, breathe such new life into the show.
The LuPone revival directed by Jack O'Brien came pretty close to fruition. But as stated above, there was an issue with Herman not wanting to move away from the original Gower Champion production.
Bernadette Peters. How come no one has mentioned Ms. Peters?? I feel like the role of Dolly was made for her. She is more of a Dolly than a Sally, Desiree, or Rose for that matter. Her last three Broadway roles did not suite her talents at all but I feel Dolly would be a perfect fir for her.