BY Robert Viagas
Post columnist says so, though production denies it.
Bette Midler and Carol Channing at her home in Palm Springs (Photo Courtesy Carol Channing)
New York Post columnist Cindy Adams reports that Bette Midler, star of the upcoming Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, will let original Dolly Carol Channing, 95, play two matinees per week in the production.
Adams quoted both the producer Scott Rudin and the publicist Rick Miramontez emphatically denying the story. But Adams wrote, "A rumor. Rumor. Just a rumor. You won't believe it. I don't believe it. No one who's in their right mind should believe it. But being burbled is - ready? - Bette will let Channing - age 95! - do two matinees weekly."
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 Broadway's Shubert Theatre.
In an interview with Playbill.com this past spring, Channing, who originated the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in the 1964 musical by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart, talked about a one-on-one meeting she had with Midler in Palm Springs, CA, shortly after the revival was announced.