HISTORY There are some roles on Broadway that draw December 28, 1938 December 5, 1955 an actor like a moth to a flame. Dolly Gallagher 30OCT 21 •thePLAYHOUSE LeviSEPT is one such role. Consider star-studdedSQUARE • 216.241.6000 • PLAYHOUSESQUARE.ORG • list of actresses who have appeared in Hello, Dolly! — Carol Channing, Bette Midler, Betty Buckley, Pearl Bailey, Barbra Streisand, Mary ASSIGNMENT: CLIENT: HELLO, DOLLY! Wilder’s TRIM: 10" W x 5.25" H The MerchantNEWSPAPER of Yonkers opens Wilder revises the unsuccessful The Merchant Martin, Ethel Merman, Betty Grable, Phyllis Diller TEMPLATE DATE: 8.29.18 SAFETY: N/A it as The Matchmaker. on Broadway. The author bases his farce of Yonkers and reopens and Ginger Rogers just to name a few. QTR PAGE HORZ BLEED: N/A hit on Broadway, with 486 on Nestroy’s Einen Jux will er sich machen; It becomes a major But the role would be inconsequential if it were it fails after 39 performances. performances. Merrick — who embarks on not for the musical and the musical may never full-scale producing, with as many as three have been conceived of had it not been for a oneBroadway openings in a single week — act farce written by John Oxenford entitled December 16, 1948 ponders turning the play into a musical. A Day Well Spent. Read on for a history of the one, the only Hello, Dolly!
April 4, 1835
THE MERCHANT OF YONKERS
THE MATCHMAKER
LEND AN EAR
April 13, 1961
FROM LONDON…
The musical revue Lend an Ear opens. Actress Carol Channing attracts major notice as a flapper-like “Gladiola Girl” and features choreography by newcomer Gower Champion.
A Day Well Spent opens at London’s Theatre Royal, English Opera House. It was seemingly forgotten.
December 8, 1949
March 10, 1842
…TO VIENNA
Einen Jux will er sich machen (“He Will Go on a Spree”) opens at the Theatre an de Wien. Written by Johann Nestroy, with music by Adolf Müller, it is based on A Day Well Spent.
April 17, 1897
ENTER THORNTON WILDER Thornton Wilder is born in Madison, Wisconsin. His second novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, earns him the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES Channing returns to Broadway as Lorelie Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She becomes an instant celebrity thanks to her rendition of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
November 4, 1954
DAVID MERRICK’S FANNY When Fanny opens on Broadway, it marks the debut of producer David Merrick, who is determined to not only conquer Broadway but vanquish all competitors.
CARNIVAL! Merrick hires director / choreographer Gower Champion and librettist Michael Stewart, from the 1960 sleeper-hit Bye Bye Birdie to mount Carnival! which goes on to a 719-performance run. Merrick is so pleased that the morning after the show’s opening, he invites Champion and Stewart to work on a musical version of The Matchmaker.
October 10, 1961
MILK AND HONEY Milk and Honey opens with music and lyrics from first-time-on-Broadway composer, Jerry Herman. Stewart — already working on The Matchmaker — suggests Herman as composer. He writes four songs “on spec” and the job is his.
January 16, 1964
THE NEW MUSICAL COMEDY Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing opens and is immediately hailed as the biggest hit in a decade.
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