#TheEthelMermanPlaybillProject

Episode 15. Of #The EthelMermanPlaybillProject is Hello, Dolly!

After six years, Hello, Dolly!, is starting to slow down and needs it’s seventh Dolly. Hello, Dolly was made for Ethel Merman. Seriously. Producer David Merrick’s first offer in 1961 was to Merman. But after 702 performances in Gypsy, she’s not even tempted. When Ethel Merman and Dolly Levi finally find each other in 1970, even the waiters in the Harmonia Gardens are crying when she comes down the stairs. She extends her stay, so that Hello, Dolly! beats My Fair Lady’s record breaking run of 2,717 performances. She’s brings Dolly in at 2,844 performances. (210 belong to her.)

Show Business. As we all know, there’s no business like it. For Ethel Merman it wasn’t about feelings and motivations or limousines to and from the Stage Door. It was about having a job and doing it. She had a job. She just sang “the way she wants to” but she always showed up and sang. Thanks for watching and letting me share these Playbills with you. I have fallen more in love with going to work. This series has given me a job. I know I’ll be back up on a stage soon, with an audience in their seats. But in the meantime, the bio reads as follows...

If you have any questions about anything you’ve seen, send them my way. I’d love to make an Episode 16 and get you some answers!


#TheEthelMermanPlaybillProject
Created and Edited by Klea Blackhurst
Produced by Andrea Prestinario

https://www.kleablackhurst.com/book-o...