Robert Billig News

Sometimes all you need to lift your spirits is a good old-fashioned star-driven musical comedy, and, boy, does the national tour of HELLO, DOLLY! with Betty Buckley deliver. Keeping all of the Tony Award-winning revival's energy and joyful spirit intact, this high-stepping celebration of life, love and second chances grabs the audience's heart with the first notes of the overture and never lets go till the final bow.

Announcing the cast for the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Broadway legend, Tony Award winner Betty Buckley. The first national tour of Hello, Dolly! began performances September 30, 2018, in the Connor Palace at Cleveland's Playhouse Square, ahead of their official opening night on October 5, 2018. Additional tour stops include Chicago; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Boston, and many more cities across America.

I had never seen a professional production of HELLO, DOLLY! until now. I recall the 1969 film with Walter Matthau and Barbra Streisand. I did see the play it is based on, THE MATCHMAKER by Thornton Wilder at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and really did not enjoy it.

Throughout theatrical history many great ladies of the theatre have tackled the role of Thornton Wilder's famous matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi in the musical Hello, Dolly! In 2017 a brand new revival of the show hit Broadway starring Bette Midler (with Donna Murphy alternating in) and later on in its run Bernadette Peters. That production is now touring the country with Tony Award winning actress Betty Buckley in the starring role and veteran actor Lewis J. Stadlen as the well-known half a millionaire Horace Vandergelder.

Yonkers and Harmonia Gardens swept into town on Tuesday evening to a packed Whitney Hall. This exuberant and big-hearted production of Hello Dolly! leans into its mid-20th origins, with nods to the period staging of the 1880s, while also exploding into the present with contemporary color palettes.

Betty Buckley is as refined as it gets, starring in the refreshingly classic production of HELLO, DOLLY! at the Ohio Theatre. From the moment she saunters onto the stage, there is no doubt that we are among a true legend. She is humble and charming as she effortlessly embraces this iconic role with pure genius.

It only takes a moment to realize that composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, aided and abetted by book writer Michael Stewart (with an able assist from Thornton Wilder), knew exactly what he was doing when he created the classic Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!: put together a star vehicle for a quintessential theater diva, surround her with characters both irascible and lovable, then give them all a score that's delightfully hummable and danceable and a script that's appealingly daft, maybe even a little goofy.

Hello, Dolly!, the Tony Award winning Best Musical Revival, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces casting for the Washington, D.C. run of the national tour starring Tony Award winning Broadway legend Betty Buckley.

The SF Chronicle reports that at Saturday night's performance of HELLO, DOLLY! in San Francisco, Betty Buckley called out an audience member who's phone went off during one of her extended monologues.

Here she comes, world! The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched last year from the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York. Get a first look at new footage of the production!

Here she comes, world! The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched earlier this year from the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York. The show just opened at LA's Hollywood Pantages Theatre. See all the red carpet action from opening night in LA below!

Holy cabooses! This past weekend, Garett Hawe, who plays Ambrose Kemper on the national tour of Hello, Dolly!, took us behind the scenes at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre as he took over the BroadwayWorld Instagram Story! In case you missed it (or just want to relive all the fun again), check out the clips below from Garett's two-show day!

Here she comes, world! The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched earlier this year from the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York. The show just opened at LA's Hollywood Pantages Theatre and we're taking you to the red carpet below!

Here she comes, world! The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched earlier this year from the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York. The show just opened at LA's Pantages Theatre and we're taking you to the red carpet below!

Some shows I can see again and again, especially those composed by the forever upbeat Jerry Herman. Hello Dolly bowed on Broadway when I was a teenager in the 60s and it had a long run with original star Carol Channing, followed by turns with Ethel Merman, Ginger Rogers, Pearl Bailey, Martha Raye and Molly Picon, to name a few. Every major star wanted to do it because the role offers a female actress the chance to sing, dance and act the hell out of it. It's a big, splashy gut buster about a woman who has more moxy than the Pied Piper and enough wisdom and panache to win over an army or a whole kingdom, for that matter...and, for the audience, it's one of those extra-special feel-good musicals that just doesn't quit... 'It Only Takes a Moment' to fall in live with it.. You leave the theatre actually humming the tunes. The first National Tour of the latest Dolly!  at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre through February 17 is just about the best starring thje glorious Betty Buckley..

Holy cabooses! Garett Hawe, who plays Ambrose Kemper on the national tour of Hello, Dolly!, is taking over the BroadwayWorld Instagram Story tomorrow! Get a peek behind the scenes on a two-show day at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. Be sure to tune in before the parade passes by!

The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley is bringing Jerry Herman's classic musical across the nation! See a chat with Ms. Buckley about her turn in Dolly's red gown and feathers below!

Here she comes, world! The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched earlier this year from the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York. Get a first look at new footage of the production ahead of the Los Angeles run!

The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched last week from Cleveland's Connor Palace at Playhouse Square. We've got a first look at the triumphant opening night curtain call! Check out the video below!

The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival of Hello, Dolly!, starring Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, launched earlier this week from Cleveland's Connor Palace at Playhouse Square.