Hello, Dolly! - New Cast Recording

So, yesterday was the big day. I finally got the cast recording of the new Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler. I have heard nothing but raves for Ms. Midler and the cast recording. My intiial thoughts: How good can it be? Well, it takes me back to my high school days when I first discovered this chestnut. So many call it a dinosaur but I've always found it a treasure. When I heard of Ms. Midler's casting, I couldn't imagine any better casting, aside from the eternal Carol Channing. I've never been a fan of the Barbra Streisand film, but wow, wow, wow fellows, we have a new Dolly! If this recording doesn't pull a Jurassic Park for the old dinosaur, well, look at the old girl now.

Of course, the original and revival recordings with Carol Channing will always be classics; but they have managed to take any creaks out of the old girl in this new recording. Lively and bright orchestrations reveal instrumental parts I never heard before. The new tempos are just what the show needs to make it feel fresh and lively. Though, David Hyde Pierce would not have been my first choice for Horace, I must say, he made a believer of me. Gavin Creel is the perfect Cornelius, far out singing and out acting his predecessors Charles Nelson Reilly and Michael Crawford. If you compare his performance with Kodaly from last year, you really get a feel for his versatility. Then there's Kate Baldwin who is resplendent in "Ribbons Down My Back," despite my love for Eileen Brennan, I have found a new favorite Irene. Of course I must address the Divine Miss M. Well, SHE IS DOLLY! There's plenty of Bette in every song she performs, but there's an equal amount of Dolly. As much as we all love Carol, she's nowhere the singer Midler is.

In short, it's like hearing my guilty love for the first time. I cannot recommend this recording highly enough. Despite my disappointment that the CD looks so much like the original recording, I have to appreciate the nostalgia it evokes.

My only wish: They would re-record the show with Donna Murphy, who I think is equally qualified to step in the shows of Mrs. Gallagher-Levi. In a season full of one great show after another, here's another one. Yes, I would just about kill to see this one, but for now the recording will have to suffice and my imagination will have to just be content with the beautiful pictures this recording paints in my head.