It Takes a Woman: Why Bette Midler Recent Casting in 'Hello, Dolly!' Is the Perfect Choice
I was having drinks with a friend the other night, and he said to me: “Is it just me, or does it seem like the world has fallen into darkness?” I couldn’t help but agree with him. There’s just been so much terrible news: the fact that 2015 was the hottest year in history, boding ill for whatever ability to we have left to live more or less in our present biosphere; wells in Michigan are poisoning children, leaving many permanently disabled; you can’t go anywhere without having to talk about Making of a Murderer with people who clearly are less informed about the case than you are. But through every cloud, some light must shine through (even if it’s just the flashlights of police investigators possibly/impossibly planting DNA evidence linking to a murder you may have/may not have committed). This week, the light finally came: Bette Midler will be starring in a new Broadway production of Hello, Dolly!
Like the musical’s composer, Jerry Herman, I too have lain awake at night, bemoaning the lack of a definitive Broadway revival of the show that made Carol Channing, already a star, into something surpassing a legend, wondering: Who could possibly play Dolly in a splashy and no-expense revival?