Goodbye, Dolly

Well, it will be in about six weeks and that's what makes my review of the "new" Broadway show so utterly useless.  Oh, the show at the Shubert Theater is not closing but stars Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce are and they're the main reasons to see this spectacular production.

Hey, I'm one of the lucky ones who once got to see the Dolly originator, Carol Channing, do the role in a revival about twenty years ago.  But, with the placement of the Divine Miss M as Dolly Levi, they finally got the casting right.  Dolly is an old Jewish busybody now being played by Bette Midler, also an old Jewish busybody.  Add to the mix the legendary comic brilliance of David Hyde Pierce as Horace Vandergelder and you have a show that, perhaps for the first time since the original opened in 1964, is finally perfect.

Now don't rush out there and buy tickets.   They were all gone at the box office prices way back in February.   The only availability is on Stub Hub with a mark-up that sometimes rivals the national debt.  But, if you want to go by yourself, there are isolated single deals to be made and I finally managed to do that last week.   Hey, why do you need somebody to go to a show with?  You read the Playbill before it starts.   You don't talk during the production.   You can easily go by yourself if need be.

Like I said, this rendition of "Hello Dolly" is like seeing the show for the first time because the leads are so ideal.  At my performance, Midler's singing voice seemed a little scratchy to me.  Luckily, with a twenty minute intermission and the fact that Dolly doesn't make her Act Two entrance at the Harmonia Gardens until about twenty minutes in, Bette was able to take a nice long breather in the middle of the evening and it paid off.  The second half of the show was electric.

Of course, the piece de resistance is the "Hello Dolly" production number and it shines brightly here.   It goes on for about ten minutes, gets a rousing standing ovation, and then continues on with an encore for another five minutes.  In the middle of it all, Midler hams it up appropriately and she loves doing it as much as the audience loves seeing it.   

Bette works just the right amount of her usual "shtick" with clever asides to the audience and her attempts to break up her co-star Pierce (who did snicker a bit when I saw it).  But, the good news is that she never completely crosses the line of turning this into a joke.   The show always stays on the right track and the result is pure nirvana for the audience.

It should be no surprise to those who loved David Hyde Pierce's work on "Frasier" that his comic timing is equally exquisite as Vandergelder.   He manages to keep up with Midler every step of the way and he never ever becomes simply part of the background.  The same goes for the rest of the exquisite casting, especially Tony-Award-winning Gavin Creel as Cornelius.  There's not a weak link in the chain.

Meanwhile, the closing curtain call is all that you can expect from a curtain call and the adulation is real and deserved.  And no, my seat wasn't this close and this is not my video.

If it was still last April, I'd tell you to run out and get tickets for "Hello Dolly." Well, I guess you still can before Midler leaves and Bernadette Peters takes over in January. But be prepared to pay a fortune. 

Or simply go by yourself.   You don't need somebody else to experience this once-in-a-lifetime Broadway miracle.

Dinner last night:  Turkey burger at the Cheesecake Factory.