NBC New York
Bette Midler Takes a Spill in Set Mishap During ‘Hello, Dolly!‘
By Michael George and R. Darren Price
Sept 14, 2017
Grammy, Tony and Emmy winner Bette Midler took a spill after a set malfunctioned during a staging of the hit “Hello, Dolly!” revival on Broadway Thursday evening, according to members of the audience.
Audience members posted on Twitter that the 71-year-old peformer fell from a moving set sometime after the curtains rose at Shubert Theatre for the 8 p.m. showtime, leaving them in darkness.
“She was kind of dancing and she was walking back and it looked like the prop didn’t stop moving,” audience member Jamie Gigantiello said. “And then she fell. So something malfunctioned.”
But the show, as they say, went on. Midler returned to the stage about 20 minutes later to a thunderous applause, and finished the show. In all, she got four standing ovations after the mishap.
The “First Wives Club” and “Hocus Pocus” actress tweeted after the show that she fell after two set pieces collided, and that she was fine.
Another audience member said she was thankful Midler was OK.
“I was stunned. I’ve been waiting all my life practically to see her in person,” Rachel Giacobbe said. “Thank God she came back on and she was just great.”
Midler has performed in the title role of the musical since April and won the Tony Award for best actress in June.
Midler lets her fans know she is okay:
Donna Murphy, who filled in for Midler for two weeks in July, chimed in after the show.
“Love you @BetteMidler ! Totally DIVINE pro!” she tweeted.
The 71-year-old actress is winding down her time as Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi in the Broadway production.
Bernadette Peters will take over the role on Jan. 20.
“I cannot imagine leaving Dolly Levi in better hands than those of Bernadette Peters. She has created more historic roles in more legendary musicals than any living Broadway star, and most of the dead ones, too. I cannot wait to see her in the show from my very expensive premium seat in Row G which I know I will have to pay for,” Midler, who won a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, said in a statement.
‘Hello, Dolly!’ minus Bette Midler shines, dims with Donna Murphy
“She is joining the greatest group of people I have ever worked with, and when my run in this amazing show — and in this amazing part — is over, I will miss all of them more than I can express. I know they will take care of her the way they have taken care of me — with the heart and generosity they have shown me since day one of rehearsal.”
