i wish they film DOLLY
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mikeoak840 — 20 years ago(November 27, 2005 07:01 PM)
She's 84you can't seriously be thinking of her doing Dolly Levy at 84? Her moments of glory were about forty years ago. Breaking a hip and rolling down the stairway at the Harmonia Gardens scen - is that the sort of a moment of glory you're suggesting? Her singing and dancing days are long since over. There's a point where celebrities just need to bow out gracefully and leave their fans with good memories, or as she's recently done, appear in a one-woman show reminiscing on their younger days for their fans. By continuing to appear in roles that aren't appropriate to their age and/or talents, they just diminish their popularity and disappoint fans. There's nothing sadder than an old celebrity that doesn't know when to hang it up. Norma Desmon7ecd as a character is fine, but we've all seen at least a few whose reality would give her a run for the money.
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polskakaszanka16-1 — 20 years ago(January 30, 2006 06:59 PM)
As a matter of fact, Carol Channing is going strong. She is performing now more than ever. She still has plenty of strength to perform Dolly. Heck, after she did break her hip during that show, she still went on (she never missed a performance)! Thats dedication. If they decide to do Dolly again they have to get Carol to do it or not do a movie at all. Not that Barbara Streisand, becasue she ruined the movie! Streisand should be banned from television and planet earth! I'm sorry but you are very wrong about Carol Channing's abilities at age 85!
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pet_superstar — 20 years ago(February 14, 2006 07:52 PM)
Ha, funny story, I'm in the play Hello Dolly right now with a very popular theatre group, and they gave us copies of Carol Channing singing as Dolly on CD. The CD also includes everyone else who was in the play with Carol Channing. But the funny thing is, that In the "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" song where she sing "Ermengarde stop snivelling, don't cry..etc", you can hear her very quietly saying "Ermen-" 1 bar too early.
Just thought that was cool
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mosthappyfella — 19 years ago(May 21, 2006 12:17 PM)
actually , there does exist a video of the complete "Dolly" with Carol, it was filmed in a theatre somewhere around 1995/96 when she did her last tour of "Hello Dolly".it is, of course, a secretely filmed tape (as so many theatre fans seem to do, despite warnings at the beginning of every theatre performance these days :-))you just can't stop the progress and miniaturisation of home media equipment i guess)..i've seen it and it is a little bit of a dissapointment actually. And I say this as a great fan and I DID see her do "Dolly" live at the Lunt -Fontanne theatre in New York in 1995 so I know what i'm talking about..I guess it is not a2000 very good idea to have her repeat it now(even if it is for tv)ten years latershe realy does look quite old in close up and although that is not a shame she just wouldn't fit the role anymore
When Ethel Merman repeated her role as Annie Oakley in the 1966 revival of "annie get your gun" people said it should have been called "granny get your gun" and she was only 57 at the time!! So 85 is really not an age to go reviving anything, better do a one woman show and a few songs, scetches and an easy chair
Nevertheless : keep wearing those mini-skirts carol!!! -
cheezyspam — 19 years ago(August 25, 2006 08:05 PM)
Don't hate me, but I think the film version with Barbara Steisand is pretty great..
that said, it should be mentioned that any "older" woman could technically play the roll of Dolly, as long as she still had the energy necessary for the role. The whole point of the character is that she realizes that she shouldn't "let the parade pass by" just because she's not the "ideal" young age So, the show could technically be done with a very talented couple in their 80's much like it could with a talented couple in their 40's or 50's in fact, in this day and age, when it's NOTHING to be in your 40's and considered hot, it would make more sense to have a much older actress play Dolly Levi.
Let's be truthful to the person who said that she passed her song and dance days long ago Carol Channing, engaging as she was and is, was never a stellar song and dance woman. She's a great actress, but the "song and dance" thing was never what made her worth watching. -
HarlowMGM — 16 years ago(October 24, 2009 05:33 PM)
Every Broadway show since 1970 or so has been recorded on videotape for posterity, I'm not sure if it's by the Museum of Modern Art or another major faculty so the 1995 revival was definately filmed. However, it makes little sense to record these performances and just lock them away where only scholars, journalists, and historians can get at them. I really believe whoever is doing this needs to have the contracts amended so that the tapes can be seen by the public at large in some way, perhaps in limited edition DVD releases five years after the run ended or something. And certainly recording them and then putting them away for perhaps decades until some scholar decides to check it out is bad judgement given they should be seen as often as possible to watch for aging and defects that can be corrected ASAP. It's not going to do any good to have something on tape and when somebody finally gets around to viewing it 20 years later they discover it has corroded over the years.
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DryToast — 16 years ago(November 04, 2009 02:31 AM)
I'm not sure if it's by the Museum of Modern Art or another major faculty
It is the Library & Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, a branch of the New York Public Library and, as such, it is not wealthy enough to bankroll the contractual obligations necessary for a commercial release. Also, keep in mind that these tapes are not made like a television broadcast that can be enjoyed by the general public, but with minimal camera coverage that does not disrupt the paying audience at the single performance being taped (e.g., one stationary camera house left, one stationary camera house right). Usually only a theater professional or scholar can imagine what the live performance would be like from such a video recording, and it is not the kind of thing that Mr. & Mrs. Joe Schmoe is going to recognize as entertainment.
Also, it's certainly not true that every Broadway production is preserved this way. Many shows close before they are ever taped, and the contents of the archive are fairly spotty. For instance, the tape of
Company
that they have is not the original Broadway production (which ran from 1970 to 1972), but a substandard tape of the national tour cast with Julie Wilson, recorded somewhere in Florida.
There is a lively thread on the Musicals board here that discusses the subject of the commercial release of videotaped theater, and it contains a lot of fanciful ideas about what is financially5b4 and technically feasible.
"I don't seem able to strike the congenial note." -
mosthappyfella — 20 years ago(August 01, 2005 09:50 AM)
I don't think it is realistic for a commercial enterprise to put those Billy Rose Library tapes out and expect them to make a profit..however I do believe in a pay-per-view system via the internet, surely that could be arranged. And while you average Joe will not readily enjoy a stationary camera registration of the latest Sondheim show, neither will he probably enjoy most Sondheim in ANY form! After all, we are not talking about the value of keeping for posterity a visual record of say "Mama Mia" or the next juke-box show, but pieces of original theatre that do not get the blockbuster movie treatment or play to packed houses in 67 countries all over the world, all looking the same.
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cnicknz — 13 years ago(February 10, 2013 02:30 PM)
I saw the last tour Channing did of Dollyin the late nineties perhaps? Of course her fans roared at every line and jumped to their feet after every scratchy vocal, but in reality she was already much too old for the role. When she waved her arms, what little skin was still on them waved like flags and her weird stiff stage movements looked elderly rather than eccentric. She should never be allowed near this role again.