On Facebook, Craig Peters posted this video and reminded me that Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway this day in 1964. It ran for 2,844 performances — or until every single person in America who was willing to sit through a musical comedy had seen it once.
It's Carol Channing and (perhaps) the original chorus performing the monster of all title songs. I'm not a huge fan of the show but it has a couple of great musical moments and this, of course, is one.
Craig wonders where this clip is from. From the sparseness of the stage — and its size with no room for dancing — it obviously is not the original Broadway presentation. Channing did a series of tours, some of them overseas for the U.S.O., for which a stripped-down, bus-'n'-truck version of the show was created…smaller cast, shorter show, simple sets, etc. I'm assuming this is from one of those engagements, possibly even the time they took the touring version to the White House. I suspect the music is all pre-recorded and it wouldn't shock me if the voices were, as well. This clip has pretty good sound given that no microphones are in evidence.
But what the heck? It's Carol Channing, performing to some extent a legendary Broadway tune. Enjoy…
