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.
In Midler, 'Dolly' has at last found a new headliner capable of engendering the necessary ecstasies as she swans down the famous staircase at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, shimmering in her corseted gown, peacocky plumage sprouting like fireworks from her head. From her first entrance on a (fake) horse-drawn cart to her last bow, Midler serves up a star performance of glowing luster, rambunctious clowning and, on just a few occasions, surprising emotional delicacy. To say she sweeps all before her is to understate the feat: Without breaking into a sweat - although she pretends to wilt against the scenery, to hilarious effect, once or twice - Midler transforms this cotton-candy cloud of a musical into a bona fide theatrical event.
Hearing Midler sing 'Hello, Dolly!' is such a tingly experience that you eventually sit back down and wonder: Is this what it was like when Carol Channing debuted 'Dolly!' on Broadway half a century ago? And, was Midler put on Earth to carry forth that legacy? It sure feels that way. This 'Hello, Dolly!' is as blissful an escape as anyone could want.
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