NEWS
“Hello, Dolly!” Broadway Tour at the Orpheum Theatre
Friends, I think it’s safe to say that the long-awaited spring has arrived. And our reward for making it through the long bleak winter is the tour of the recent Broadway revival of the classic musical Hello, Dolly! The luscious old-fashioned (in a good way) show fairly leaps off the stage in an explosion of music, romance, dance, color, and the hopeful life of springtime. Bette Midler won a Tony in the title role a few years ago; the tour needed big talent to fill those big shoes. They’ve found it in Broadway legend Betty Buckley. I was fortunate enough to see the Divine Miss M on Broadway, and while the two actors are very different in ways I can’t quite articulate (perhaps Bette is more comic and almost zany, Betty more earthy and grounded), Betty is quite divine in her own way, totally makes the role her own, and charms everyone in the room. The 55-year-old musical with a strong female leading role has held up relatively well, and the creators have pulled out all the stops to make this show a musical theater lover’s dream. Dollyis staying in Minneapolis for two weeks, before she has to go away again, leaving the world a little duller in her absence. (Click here for info and tickets.)
