Hello, Dolly! (Musical)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Musical dates
Original title: Hello, Dolly!
Original language: English
Music: Jerry Herman
Book: Michael Stewart
Lyrics: Jerry Herman
Literary source: Thornton Wilders acting
The Matchmaker
Premiere: January 16, 1964
Place of premiere: New York, St. James Theater
Place and time of the action: Yonkers

Hello, Dolly! is a musical with the music and lyrics by Jerry Herman ; the book was written by Michael Stewart . The musical was produced by David Merrick , and Gower Champion directed and choreographed . The role of Dolly Levi was intended for Ethel Merman , who declined, so Carol Channing was cast. The premiere took place on January 16, 1964 at the St. James Theater in New York . The production was extremely successful and saw 2,844 performances.

In the West End of London the musical premiered on December 2, 1965 at the Drury Lane Theater ; the main role was played by Mary Martin . The German-language premiere ( Hello, Dolly! ) Took place on November 26, 1966 in the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in a production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle . The translation is by Robert Gilbert ; Klaus Doldinger took over the musical direction . The first German dolly was played by Tatjana Iwanow (as Dolly Wassiljewa , not Dolly Levi ).

Since March 2017, Bette Midler can be seen as Dolly Levi in ​​her first leading role on Broadway in a new performance of the musical.

Literary template

The literary model by Thornton Wilder goes back to the one-act farce "A Day Well Spent" by the Englishman John Oxenford , which premiered in London in 1834 and was adapted by the Viennese author Johann Nepomuk Nestroy in 1842 to the musical play " He wants to make a joke " was. Wilder moved the plot to the then still rural New York area and made the piece "The Merchant of Yonkers" out of it. The figure of Dolly Levi, which is not included in the template, is Wilder's invention and is inspired by the matchmaker Frosine from Molière's “ The Miser ”. "The Merchant of Yonkers" was successful in theater, but Wilder rewrote it in 1955 and re-released it under the title "The Matchmaker".

The plot

The solitary and stingy Horace Vandergelder from the then rural Yonkers says that he should get married after all, and contacts the matchmaker Dolly Levi, who is widowed herself. This gives him an appointment with a hat maker in New York, which he also keeps. When he leaves, he instructs Barnaby and Cornelius, the two employees of his trade, to take good care of the business. However, they are happy to escape his strict regime for a day and decide to take a trip to New York.

By chance they meet Dolly Levi, who takes the disoriented provincial under her wing, without knowing that they are employees of her client Vandergelder. You end up in the hat shop whose owner has agreed to meet Vandergelder as a result of Dolly's mediation. Vandergelder arrives there soon; Barnaby and Cornelius hide and can thus remain undetected. While Vandergelder's appointment comes to an end quickly due to his harshness, Barnaby and Cornelius take a liking to two young hatmakers they meet in the shop. Dolly now has every effort to comfort the owner of the hat shop and to teach the two young men a minimum of urban manners. She masters these tasks and then withdraws because she has noticed that she has developed an interest in Vandergelder herself, although it is difficult for her to admit this to herself. Finally she invites Vandergelder to a posh restaurant where she used to be a regular and is appreciated by the entire staff (the dramaturgical "hook" of the title song).

That is exactly where Barnaby and Cornelius went, who want to impress their new friends from the hat shop, but quickly realize that they cannot pay the prices there. While trying to run away, they meet Vandergelder, who confronts them and then, furiously, meets Dolly, who at first tells him very clearly that she thinks he is a disgusting guy. Vandergelder is on his way home, but Dolly has since noticed that she loves Vandergelder despite his dismissive nature and that she no longer wants to live alone. She drives after him to Yonkers and confesses her love to him. Vandergelder is surprisingly delighted and even lets Dolly persuade him to forgive Cornelius and Barnaby.

Music numbers

List without reprisals

Act I.
  • Call On Dolly (Come to Dolly)
  • I Put My Hand In (I was always a woman who liked to arrange something)
  • It takes a woman
  • Put On Your Sunday Clothes (put on your Sunday clothes)
  • Ribbons Down My Back (I wear colored ribbons on my hat)
  • Motherhood (maternity march)
  • Dancing (i'm dancing)
  • Before the Parade Passes By (I won't let the music pass)
Act II
  • Elegance (elegance)
  • The Waiter's Gallop
  • Hello, Dolly! (Hello dolly)
  • The Polka Contest - originally Come and Be My Butterfly
  • It Only Takes a Moment (It can often be a moment)
  • So Long Dearie (goodbye darling)
  • final

filming

In the German-speaking countries, the film adaptation that was produced in 1969 under the direction of Gene Kelly is best known . Actress of the title role was Barbra Streisand , her partner Walter Matthau ; in another leading role the later Phantom of the Opera star Michael Crawford ; Louis Armstrong can be seen and heard in a guest appearance .

Awards

Tony Award 1964

2002 Grammy Hall of Fame Award for recording the 1964 production

literature

Web links

sources

  1. ↑ Thomas S. Hischak: Through the Screen Door: What Happened to the Broadway Musical When It Went to Hollywood . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2004, ISBN 0-8108-5018-4 , p. 225.
  2. ↑ playbill.com
  3. ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Award