Tag: Bette Midler

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Podcast: Bette Midler On Broadway, RuPaul Gets His Own “Origins” TV Series

In this week’s headlines on The Randy Report podcast:

• Reports say Bette Midler’s performance in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway is a killer, and that was almost the truth

• An 18 year old gay rodeo cowboy says he’s not going to be corralled back into the closet

• RuPaul is getting his own “origins” TV series

• Gloria Gaynor is headed to the Library of Congress

• Taiwan could be the first nation in Asia to legalize marriage equality

All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report. Hit play below.

 Click here to subscribe to The Randy Report podcast on iTunes for free.

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Theatergoer Collapses During Bette’s Hello, Dolly! – “I’d Sooner Die Than Miss Act 2!”

According to The New York Post, a theater patron fell ill during the first act of the already-blockbuster Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler.

But the theater-goer refused to leave. Check this out 🙂

At the Bette Midler show — which has instantly become Broadway’s hottest ticket, raking in $1.4 million in its first five performances — a source told us, “Around halfway through the first act,” an audience member visiting from LA “started to feel dizzy and made his way to the aisle. But he lost consciousness and collapsed before the end of his row.”

The show was halted, and paramedics were called and took him to the lobby. “When he regained consciousness, they checked his vitals and insisted he should go straight to the hospital,” the source said. The guy refused, exclaiming, “I’d sooner die than miss Act 2!” Producer Scott Rudin even invited him to come see the show again.

I’ve had several friends who have seen the show and raved. The production already has a $40 million advance sale.

Assuming Bette doesn’t do more than a year – and that the show is going to be a smash hit – who could possibly replace with equal star power?

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First Look: Bette Midler in HELLO, DOLLY!

Bette Midler as “Dolly Levi” (Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes)

First look at Bette Midler’s star turn in the upcoming Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!

The new production, set to open at the Shubert Theater April 20, begins previews tomorrow night. Already box office record have been broken in anticipation of the divine Miss M’s debut as the irascible matchmaker.

From BroadwayWorld.com:

The upcoming revival of Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman’s masterpiece Hello, Dolly!, starring legendary performer Bette Midler, has quickly become the hottest ticket of the year. Directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle.

This Hello, Dolly!, the first new production of this classic musical (based on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker) to appear on Broadway since it opened more than fifty years ago, will pay tribute to the original work of legendary director/ choreographer Gower Champion, which has been hailed both then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history.

As regular Randy Report readers may know, I made my Broadway debut in the last revival of Dolly! with original Tony Award winning star Carol Channing in 1995. I staged the national tour of the production after we closed on Broadway, and at least 10 times since then. I’m still in love with the show.

Wishing everyone at the Shubert Theater a wondermous run with the show.

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Bette & Carol: The Original “Dolly” Meets Broadway’s Newest “Dolly”

Broadway World has the details on the meeting of two icons:

Broadway’s newest Dolly Gallagher Levi met the classic original last week, as the fabulous Bette Midler was introduced to the legendary Carol Channing.

Channing, who is now 95, took Broadway by storm and got a Tony Award, too, when she opened in the original 1964 production of Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s HELLO, DOLLY!, a musical version of Thornton Wilder’s THE MATCHMAKER.

Bette Midler stars in the upcoming Broadway revival, which begins previewing March 15, 2017, with an official opening night of April 20, 2017. Four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks directs and Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce joins Midler as leading man Horace Vandergelder.

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Twitter War: Bette Midler & Kim Kardashian

It all begins so innocently – the fabulous Bette Midler tells a joke on Twitter:

Miss Kardashian, thinking that she can drop a few cute bon mots responded to the Divine Miss M thusly:

The “gift” Kim refers to was a tree that Bette planted in Kim’s name as part of Bette’s New York Restoration Project, so, of course, Miss M wasn’t going to leave it there:

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Bette Midler To Star In 2017 Broadway Revival Of Hello, Dolly!

I’m thrilled to read that the fabulous Bette Midler will return to the Broadway stage next year in a new revival of Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly!

Playbill has the announcement:

Stage and screen star Bette Midler has announced that she will play Dolly Gallagher Levi in a Broadway revival of the blockbuster 1964 musical, Hello, Dolly!

Four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks will direct, and Tony winner Warren Carlyle will choreograph the production, which will begin Broadway previews March 13, 2017, and open April 20 at a theatre to be announced.

Midler issued a statement saying, “I am looking forward to portraying one of the most beloved characters in all of American Musical Comedy, Dolly Levi, born Gallagher, in Hello, Dolly! I know I’m going to have the time of my life, and I am so glad to be under the wings of Scott Rudin as Producer and Jerry Zaks as Director. See you next year!”

Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman said, “Many times through the years I’ve been asked about bringing back Hello, Dolly! – and it has always been, ‘Who would be my dream Dolly?’ – and though I’ve had literally dozens of names tossed at me, I knew that we needed more than just a wonderful singer or a wonderful actor, so I held on to the hope that she would also be a distinctly original persona. Who is out there that has the necessary stature, warmth, the incredible talent and ability, and especially the singular, out-sized personality that I was looking for in a 21st century Dolly? Only one person: Bette Midler. Only Bette could bring Dolly brilliantly back to ‘the lights of 14th Street!'”

“There has not been a new production in 50 years,” Rudin told The Associated Press. “Partly it was the difficulty of who could play Dolly. It had to be someone who could take it to a different level. Bette is the only one who can. Never has there been something more inevitable than her in this role.”

I made my Broadway debut in 1995 in the last revival, which starred Tony Award-winner (and original “Dolly Levi”) Carol Channing, and it was truly a gift to be a part of.

A few years ago, when Tony Award winners Patti Lupone and director Jack O’Brien were in talks to bring the show back to Broadway, I was asked by Jerry Herman himself to choreograph the production. Unfortunately, Lupone and O’Brien had some artistic differences and the production never came to fruition. For several months, I spoke with the producer attached to the project at the time and certainly Bette was on the top of our list.

I wish the new endeavor only the best. 

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Justin Bieber Comes Up Short In Trying To Shade The Divine Miss M

In an interview with Billboard Magazine this week, music pop-tart Justin Bieber tried to shade movie/music legend Bette Midler, but was quickly eclipsed by the interwebs.

When Bieber’s dad tweeted about a recent nude paparazzi pic of the Bieb, exclaiming his son’s apparent endowment, Midler fired off a typically “divine” response.

So, this week, Bieber attempted to throw shade the Divine Miss M’s way:

“This Britt Meddler,” says Justin, unintentionally mangling the stage-and-screen legend’s name. “I don’t even know who that is, honestly. I wanted to immediately say ‘Who is this lady?”

Midler didn’t miss a beat:

And, of course, some quick-minded Twitter genius launched the “Britt Meddler” Twitter account with this missive: