When talking about commercial theatre I occasionally refer to the bubble that we live in in London. A figurative one that is, not physical. I occasionally find myself waxing rhapsodically about venues such as the Landor, Union or Southwark or performers such as Julie Atherton or even Mark Rylance when a blank look appears on the faces of those around me. The following however surprised even me.
When the news that Bette Midler was to take on the role of Dolly Levi in a revival of the classic Broadway musical Hello Dolly! my personal Facebook and Twitter feeds juddered in a frenzy of excitement and further-casting speculation. Opening in March 2017, the show has already weathered the storm of many Broadway and West End revivals including – in what is possibly a record as far as musicals go – an all-Black cast led by Pearl Bailey and Danny La Rue cross-dressing to play the famous matchmaker. The exuberance of Hello Dolly! made it a key cultural lynchpin to the Disney movie WALL-E and the Streisand movie is solid-gold – the last of the big MGM musicals with a cast of 1000s and no-doubt a cavalier approach to budgets.
However when I went home recently, none of my gay or stagey mates had heard about it. Not a sausage. I was breaking news that was already a week old. So much for the age of communication!
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