Dollys Coast to Coast

The Bette Midler-led production of Hello, Dolly! finally opened on Broadway.  And, no surprise, the critics were dutifully impressed.  Amidst all the plaudits, there was some disappointment for Bette – the absence of Carol Channing and Jerry Herman.  Of course, if she were keeping up with BillyMasters.com, she would have known weeks ago that these two would be unable to attend.  The composer of Dolly said he hoped to travel from Miami for the opening – perhaps by train since he hates planes.  But his health has been up and down, so he declined.

As for the original Dolly, Channing decided months ago that she wouldn’t be there.  “Dolly is Bette’s, now.  I’m not going to take away from that.”  Altruistic as those sentiments are, she, too, was not well enough for the trip.  Several sources tell me that Carol is under hospice care and has been intubated.  Not so, say her people.  “She’s at home in bed recovering but no means is she on death’s door or connected to anything.  She just had a small fall, but that’s nothing.”  I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.  We send our best wishes to Carol and hope, whatever is going on, that she’s not in any pain.

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Because of her fall, Carol wasn’t able to attend two local events.  One of them was an award from the Professional Dancers Society on April 23rd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  Due to Carol’s indisposition, Lily Tomlin graciously stepped in.  Because when I think of professional dancers, I think of Lily Tomlin.

The second event was Hello, Jerry!, a musical tribute to Jerry Herman which was produced by Michael Childers at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Springs and raised money for Jewish Family Service.  The show, under the direction of Jason Graae, featured many luminaries giving voice to Jerry Herman songs.  Folks like Lucie Arnaz Jr., Faith Prince, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, Lee Roy Reams, Liz Callaway, David Burnham, Vicki Lewis, Davis Gaines, Gary Beach, Ruta Lee, and the indefatigable Carole Cook!  There were many stars in attendance as well, such as Mimi Hines, Kaye Ballard, Sal Mistretta, and Peter Marshall.  Were it not for the traffic driving to Palm Springs (damn you, Coachella), it would have been a perfect trip.  That mar was made up for by the terrific food courtesy of Lulu California Bistro – the short ribs, in particular, were spectacular.  And the event raised a ton of money.

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