Hello Dolly! At the Dominion

[wickedgrin]

This is FABULOUS news and our Mr Barnaby is seldom ill informed!

Yes, I know tickets will be expensive but over the past 2 years I have payed a fortune in return visits to 42nd St, Kinky Boots and Dreamgirls all of which are closing. New musicals announced so far have not exactly excited me - so I think I may be able to afford at least one decent seat for one Hello Dolly performance!

[Dr Tom]

Jan 5, 2019 23:07:03 GMT zak97 said:

After tonight, just hire the 42nd Street case. Find a role for one of Ashley Day/Robert Fairchild/Stuart Neal producers please.

Would be great, but the Broadway production actually had quite a small cast,

[latefortheoverture]

I have got butterflies just reading this, I cannot believe what I’m reading!

Pray for the bank account- TodayTix Rush?

Summer can’t come quick enough!!!

[Jon]

It's a very fun show, I saw it with Bernadette Peters as Dolly so I have no real desire it at the Dominion.

I do wonder if LW Theatres are kicking themselves for not choosing this over Joseph at the Palladium.

It would be fabulous if My Fair Lady follows Hello, Dolly! straight away. 

[Being Alive]

Jan 6, 2019 0:54:48 GMT Jon said:

It's a very fun show, I saw it with Bernadette Peters as Dolly so I have no real desire it at the Dominion.

I do wonder if LW Theatres are kicking themselves for not choosing this over Joseph at the Palladium.

It would be fabulous if My Fair Lady follows Hello, Dolly! straight away. 

If it does, the my two best shows of 2018 will be playing back to back and the Dominion need to work out a loyalty card...

[raider80]

I am so excited! Maybe Scott Rudin can talk Donna Murphy into making her West End debut and Gavin Creel into making his West End return.

The ensemble will probably be a bunch of West End vets, just like Broadway.

[gmoneyoutlaw]

At the Dominion, they'll need a longer train! I don't have my stage specs in front of me but I think the Dominion stage is 40 feet wide and the Shubert is 24-26 feet.

Honestly, if I paid $239 to see Bette from the 5th row and it was worth every penny of my unemployment check! You will never see anything like it in your life again. I also saw the show a year later with Donna Murphy and it just wasn't the same. Bette brings a quality that goes right through your spine up to that happy place in your brain.

The Dominion is a very large space. Maybe they will open the upper circle again (that has not been turned into offices of course) so if you can afford top price there may still be an opportunity to experience shear joy.

[viserys]

Jan 5, 2019 17:09:51 GMT @eldermillan said:

Am I the only one who's not especially excited about this?

I'm very un-excited, too. I might want to see it as I have never seen Hello Dolly live, but I don't care much for Bette Midler and am certainly not ready to pay insane prices.  I hope that her alterlate's performances will be cheaper to begin with and/or heavily discounted, then I may go towards the end of the run. Right now I'm not ready yet to return to the Dominion for another show anyway. 

[Mark]

Jan 6, 2019 3:09:52 GMT gmoneyoutlaw said:

At the Dominion, they'll need a longer train! I don't have my stage specs in front of me but I think the Dominion stage is 40 feet wide and the Shubert is 24-26 feet.

Honestly, if I paid $239 to see Bette from the 5th row and it was worth every penny of my unemployment check! You will never see anything like it in your life again. I also saw the show a year later with Donna Murphy and it just wasn't the same. Bette brings a quality that goes right through your spine up to that happy place in your brain.

The Dominion is a very large space. Maybe they will open the upper circle again (that has not been turned into offices of course) so if you can afford top price there may still be an opportunity to experience shear joy.

That’s gonna be some Passerelle!

[basdfg]

Hope My fair Lady doesn't go to the Dominion- my parents are desperate to see it but Hate the Dominion and think it's a poor theatere and have the belief that it's overpriced after how much Elf was selling for.

I think Hello Dolly will be out of my price range and I cant get my parents to pay for it as they not really interested even if it's Bette Middler or someone else they like.

[Someone in a tree]

Jan 5, 2019 18:22:16 GMT @sharpe12 said:

Jan 5, 2019 17:09:51 GMT @eldermillan said:

Am I the only one who's not especially excited about this?

You can add me to that list. From what I can tell this seems to be a massive event for big Bette Midler fans - the musical itself almost inconsequential. 

I know who Milder is but not a huge fan. And as for Hello Dolly - based on the new CD it's a pleasant old school musical but not a patch on the likes of My Fair Lady etc etc. I wouldn't say a classic.

Having said that I would be curious to check this out due to the hype. But at a discounted £75 to £40 top price non premium job. Feel sure however that this won't discount and the producers will have $$$ in their eyes and it will end up like Hamilton - pass!

(Oh and sorry to continue the moaning but I am so over the West End being a sea of Broadway imports. Where on earth are our new shows coming from? Why can't we have a massive revival featuring a UK megastar? Like EP. (Or Jane McDonald lol)).

I love Hello Dolly, yes it is old fashioned but it is a hoot. I loved performing in it in my amdram days and Samantha Spiro was wonderful in the Open Air Theatre production.

Shame the recent broadway recording sounds dull and lifeless, try checking out the two recording with Carol Channing on. From mates who did see it it was wonderful and the CD is a poor transcript of a wonderful evening of theatre.

[callum]

Doesn’t contradict Mr Barnaby’s scoop, but Baz tweeted this a couple of days ago:

[Mr Crummles]

Jan 5, 2019 17:09:51 GMT @eldermillan said:

Am I the only one who's not especially excited about this?

I am not personally very excited either. I think I appreciate Bette Middler more as comedienne than as a singer. But I am very happy, though, for those who were yearning to see the show, but couldn’t go to New York. I remember the board discussion about the possibility of a transfer and the anguished considerations from some that the transfer was unlikely because of financial realities. So it seems that there is reason to rejoice after all. I saw a very good production, in Regent’s Park, that I found very imaginative and charming. The clip I saw from the Broadway production didn’t look quite as interesting, so I am not that curious to see it, especially as my budget for theatre extravagances this year has been fully diverted to Ivo van Hove’s All About Eve. But I hope everyone else enjoys it.

[mrbarnaby]

Jan 6, 2019 3:09:52 GMT gmoneyoutlaw said:

At the Dominion, they'll need a longer train! I don't have my stage specs in front of me but I think the Dominion stage is 40 feet wide and the Shubert is 24-26 feet.

Honestly, if I paid $239 to see Bette from the 5th row and it was worth every penny of my unemployment check! You will never see anything like it in your life again. I also saw the show a year later with Donna Murphy and it just wasn't the same. Bette brings a quality that goes right through your spine up to that happy place in your brain.

The Dominion is a very large space. Maybe they will open the upper circle again (that has not been turned into offices of course) so if you can afford top price there may still be an opportunity to experience shear joy.

You are incorrect actually. The Schubert proscenium is not 24 feet (that’s 7metres- smaller than nearly every theatre in London.)

[apubleed]

Jan 5, 2019 18:22:16 GMT @sharpe12 said:

Jan 5, 2019 17:09:51 GMT @eldermillan said:

Am I the only one who's not especially excited about this?

You can add me to that list. From what I can tell this seems to be a massive event for big Bette Midler fans - the musical itself almost inconsequential. 

I know who Milder is but not a huge fan. And as for Hello Dolly - based on the new CD it's a pleasant old school musical but not a patch on the likes of My Fair Lady etc etc. I wouldn't say a classic.

Having said that I would be curious to check this out due to the hype. But at a discounted £75 to £40 top price non premium job. Feel sure however that this won't discount and the producers will have $$$ in their eyes and it will end up like Hamilton - pass!

(Oh and sorry to continue the moaning but I am so over the West End being a sea of Broadway imports. Where on earth are our new shows coming from? Why can't we have a massive revival featuring a UK megastar? Like EP. (Or Jane McDonald lol)).

Hello, Dolly! is absolutely a classic - but not for the same reasons as any of the truly 'good' musicals. If you worship whoever is playing that role, there are no words to describe what it feels like when after the waiter shouts "SHE'S HEREEEE", the orchestra starts blaring and she walks down that iconic red stair case. It's probably the closest thing to a natural MDMA high in a musical you'll ever have, and I absolute cherish every minute of seeing Bernadette Peters in the role. I saw Bette too and I'm not a massive fan, so I didn't quite feel the same about her (and will pass unless they get someone like Donna Murphy to be the alternate). If you are not really a fan, you can probably skip it - but you should be praying someone you adore gets a chance to play the role as a replacement or alternative because you need to experience this high.

I've seen many 'classic' shows - My Fair Lady (directed by Julie Andrews herself), Hamilton, all of Sondheim's canon etc.. etc.. and none of it even comes close. 

[priorwalter]

For anyone saying they aren’t excited because they’re not Bette fans and feel like it’s her show not Hello, Dolly, in some aspect you’re right, but overall you’re completely wrong. I went into Hello, Dolly not knowing much about Bette or Dolly and I walked out a changed man, having fallen in love with Bette and the show. It is so expertly done and Bette is a Star and the production is amazing. So amazing in fact I went back twice to see Bernadette and will be seeing the tour with Betty Buckley. If it happens, go! You will not be disappointed.

[Deleted]

I'm not excited, but there's no reason in particular. I just think this show is not my thing. I might still see it (if they discount) and love it and eat my words, of course. Who knows...

[Deleted]

I'm more excited for the show rather than bette, in fact my worry is it will be the bette show and she won't really be playing a role. It's so rare to get an old fashioned Broadway show these days, especially as so many classics are revived on a small scale. This is pure Broadway in it's most traditional sense

[Marcus]

I’ve always been a big Bette fan (ever since watching Beaches as a young boy) but I am never prepared to pay extortionate amounts of money to see a theatre show. A show shouldn’t cost as much as a weekend away in my mind.

If I can get decent tickets i’ll go but I’m not a massive fan of the show itself. I find it hard to see it being such a huge thing in the WE as it was on Broadway and think the Dominion is such a bad fit for this show.
It would be perfect for a more prestigious theatre, the Palladium for example.

[sf]

Dolly isn't my favourite show, but I've heard enough friends across the pond rave about this performance that I'd want to see it. My Visa card is already cowering at the thought of the ticket prices... but I've got a theatre token left over from Christmas (I just spent the birthday one on a ticket to Come From Away) and that might dull the pain a little.

[alece10]

Have to admit I an going more for Bette than Hello Dolly. Was never a huge fan of the film, it was ok.
Regret not seeing Bette when she toured last and as I've never seen her live before this will probably my one and only chance.
Plus it's all very camp isn't it.

[Deleted]

I saw this on Broadway and didn't enjoy Midler's performance and I am a Midler fan through and through.

Vocally she wasn't able for the score, though I did enjoy the more bluesy version of So Long Dearie.

She struggled with the choreography.

This production has nothing to do with Dolly it's The Bette Midler Show and is all about money.

Every time she did a box step the broadway audience went wild, I really can't stand Broadway audiences and the celebrity culture altar they worship at.

From watching old videos of previous Broadway revivals this didn't seem in any way innovative.

I personally wish i had seen Murphy and as a Midler fan that's the truth of it.

I will see it in London but I'll see the alternate.

Also good luck to Rudin if he thinks UK audiences will pay £50 for a run of the mill souvenir brochure.

[jamb0r]

Not going to lie, I’m pretty disappointed about this, but for a different reason to some of the above posters.

For a little over a year, when at parties etc primarily attended by gay men (who usually lead much more interesting lives than me) I’ve been able to casually drop into conversation about ‘that time I saw Bette Midler in Hello Dolly on Broadway’ and enjoyed seeing them turn green with envy. If it comes over here I’ll lose that!

[Being Alive]

Bette Midler in Hello Dolly is the best three hours I’ve ever spent in the theatre. Nothing has even come close to the happiness this show bought me. So when this gets announced BUY A TICKET. it will make you happy.

[knutinkerbell]

Jan 6, 2019 22:39:36 GMT @mylifeindrama said:

I saw this on Broadway and didn't enjoy Midler's performance and I am a Midler fan through and through.

Vocally she wasn't able for the score, though I did enjoy the more bluesy version of So Long Dearie.

She struggled with the choreography.

This production has nothing to do with Dolly it's The Bette Midler Show and is all about money.

Every time she did a box step the broadway audience went wild, I really can't stand Broadway audiences and the celebrity culture altar they worship at.

From watching old videos of previous Broadway revivals this didn't seem in any way innovative.

I personally wish i had seen Murphy and as a Midler fan that's the truth of it.

I will see it in London but I'll see the alternate.

Also good luck to Rudin if he thinks UK audiences will pay £50 for a run of the mill souvenir brochure.

Same here. Flew to NY to see Bette. It was a nice evening, but at last, I thought I should have booked Murphy (or stayed at home to save my money). But my friend also wanted to see Sunset Boulevard and that was amazingly better than the ENO run. Sound was absolutely wonderful and Glenn Close was superb.