David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
bfreak
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/6/11
#2David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:06pm
I love David Hyde Pierce so much! What an amazing choice. I have to see this now.
#4David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:11pm
I was really hoping against hope they'd get JK Simmons. Pierce will be fine, I'm sure, and he's delivered many performances I quite liked- but there's nothing gruff or blue collar about him, which Horace needs. Pierce always comes off as very erudite.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#5David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:12pm
He is wonderful. He completely won me over in CURTAINS. He gets musical theatre and I can already see him creating a wonderful chemistry with Midler. A perfect pairing.
"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"
#6David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:14pm
Where can I petition Kate Bladwin for Irene?
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
behindthescenes2
Stand-by Joined: 7/30/12
#7David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:18pm
Must be a new part - Dolly's feigele brother. Is there no older Jerry Orbach, John Raitt, someone with some weight (literally and dramatically) that could do that role so that when we see it, we won't expect Maris to make an ill-timed visit or phone call. I like him, I really do, but please, please.
#8David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:19pm
I wouldn't call Horace Vandergelder "blue collar" (as someone did above) but more "merchant class" - I've seen it played different ways, from Walter Matthau's usual gruff blustery persona (which I thought worked great in the movie) to suave and debonair (but as intolerant of women as was typical in the time period) - Cab Calloway, and later Billy Daniels...actually, the more I think about it, Hyde Pierce may be wonderful in the role...reminds me of my own grandfather who was wiry and stern, but with a twinkle in his eye, who ran a little grocery/mercantile operation in Clarksburg, West Virginia...
pupscotch
Broadway Star Joined: 1/24/16
#9David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:24pm
I think David Hyde Pierce is great casting, I only wish it was going into the St. James (but maybe it means Something Rotten! isn't closing as early as people think!)
#10David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:37pm
I, too, think Pierce will do a fine job. Horace is not, as already pointed out, "blue collar." He's a textbook petite bourgeoisie. And most important, he's funny. Simmons would (I think) be far too butch and lower class for the role (and he's never particularly funny, either). If the audience thinks that he might actually hit (and physically hurt) Cornelius, Barnaby, Ambrose, or Ermengarde, the comedy flies out the window.
It is a bit odd that the actor playing Horace is 13 years younger than the actor playing Dolly, but I'm sure hair and make-up will solve that.
bfreak
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/6/11
#11David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:37pm
I think this will be good, because it will provide a chance for David to play against his typical type. From what I've seen, he isn't really the type of actor who just keeps trying to play the same part over and over, so I think we may see a side of him that we really haven't before and that it'll be great.
followspot
Broadway Star Joined: 12/27/11
#12David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:43pm
"Tracy... Hold Mama's waffles."
Updated On: 5/17/16 at 03:43 PM
#13David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 3:45pm
IdinaBellFoster said: "Where can I petition Kate Bladwin for Irene?"
(You don't have to...)
#14David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:01pm
The winking smile emoticon in bjh2114's comment makes me very happy about the possibility of Kate Baldwin for Irene Malloy!!
#15David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:03pm
Can some clever person show the 2 of them standing next to each other to determine physical compatability---Thanks--just curious to see.
#16David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:05pm
#17David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:06pm
Isn't She Great! One of the gayest movies ever made.
#18David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:09pm
Oh, you said you want them standing. 
10086sunset
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/8/16
#19David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:09pm
It's a safe choice, also a solid one.
#20David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:10pm
Pierce is a wonderful performer, but I agree that his physical slightness is going to seem odd next to larger-than-life Bette and larger-than-life Dolly. I wanted them to be more equally matched. She'll look like she's molesting Barney Fife.
Still, those two names together on a marquee are going to sell a lot of tickets.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#21David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:13pm
pupscotch said: "I think David Hyde Pierce is great casting, I only wish it was going into the St. James (but maybe it means Something Rotten! isn't closing as early as people think!)
"
Maybe it is closing and hello dolly can't take the st. James because it will be undergoing renovations in preparation of frozen.
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Wildcard
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/21/06
#23David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:18pm
best12bars said: Pierce is a wonderful performer, but I agree that his physical slightness is going to seem odd next to larger-than-life Bette and larger-than-life Dolly. I wanted them to be more equally matched. She'll look like she's molesting Barney Fife.
Pierce's FRASIER co-star Kelsey Grammer would have been the better choice. Midler is going to devour poor Pierce. He's so slight and so effete.
Oh, am I allowed to say that or will my post get deleted? You know, this being the new and improved politically correct hyper-sensitive BWW and all....
#24David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:27pm
Tickets for this were already believed to be tough to get. Now with DHP attached, it'll be even more difficult. But I still want to see it!!
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#25David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in HELLO DOLLY
Posted: 5/17/16 at 4:28pm
Great choice! And will add to Bette's already large draw. So far, So good.
Kate Baldwin is perfection, but I think they will go a tad younger.
I could see Michael Urie as Cornelius.
