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‘Hello, Dolly!’ slammed as ‘breath of stale air’ in previews
By Richard Johnson
March 19, 2017 | 10:05am
Bette Midler is terrific in “Hello, Dolly!” but some Broadway regulars are underwhelmed.
“It is not a great show — one wonderful number, the rest sort of a breath of stale air,” one theatergoer said after a preview.
As for David Hyde Pierce: “Fabulous, but he needs to work on his New Yawk accent. It was all over the place!” said another.
Still, it will be huge hit. The standing ovation for Midler’s first entrance went on so long, producer Scott Rudin and director Jerry Zaks were “plotzing and high-fiving each other,” according to one witness.
“Scott then put his hands on either side of his head in disbelief and joy. It was very cute, and I bet no one has ever put ‘Scott Rudin’ and ‘cute’ in the same sentence.”
When the curtain came down, after taking numerous bows and traipsing around the front of the stage to wild applause, Midler lay on her back on the floor feigning exhaustion, as if to say, “Go home!”
Only a,”sour grapes” person could possibly feel underwhelmed with Bette Midler, she fabulous in whatever she does.
Beautiful lady xxxxxxx