Original Cast Recording- Hello Dolly

So somewhat already getting sick of the Broadway theme we are ding this month, but too late to change gears now.  This was $1.20.  Not really familiar with Hello Dolly as compared to other works I have put on this month.  I had an opportunity last night to watch the movie for some background but a romance between Barbara Streisand and Walter Matthau is a bit much for me to bear.

Hello Dolly was a musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart, all based on Thorton Wilder’s 1938 play The Merchant of Yonkers.  It tells the story of a matchmaker who tries to find a mate for a unmarried half-millionaire.  The producers had Ethel Merman in mind for the lead role who turned it down.  Ditto for Mary Martin.  After consideration of Nancy Walker, the role went to Carol Channing, who went on to make it her signature role.

After some rocky reviews in previews, the show was retooled and opened on Broadway on Jan 16, 1964.  It became a smash hit, running 2,844 performances, a record at the time.  In fact, despite the advent of rock and roll, ten Broadway productions in the 60’s would run past 1,000 performances,  Three of which would go over 2,000 Anyway, back to this, Hello Dolly won 10 out of 11 Tony’s a record until 2001.  Channing won for Best Actress in a Musical despite stiff competition between Streisand with Funny Girl.

And as inferred above, a film version which was directed by Gene Kelly, came out in 1969.  It would win three Oscars. As this still remains highly popular, various revivals have been performed through out the years including a 2017 run with Bette Midler.

The album was pretty darn successful as well, going to the #1 spot in the US.  The theme song has become a standard of sorts, is some part due to Louis Armstrong’s cover version, which knocked the Beatles out of the #1 spot in 1964. In 2002, this album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, although I am not too certain what that means.

But here is this, featuring Channing, David Burns, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jerry Dodge, and Eileen Brennnan. For a sample, I went with “Dancing” as it features most of the principles.

Not bad little record but not one pf my favorites .  But still…. satisfactory.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.