Also, this would never have happened, but as a a friend of mine said the other day, if this production of DOLLY! had opened with Murphy (or equivalent) starring in it from the beginning, and if had gotten rave reviews, I expect the show starring Murphy would be selling much better than those performance are now, though not at Midler levels.
That's kind of the point, isn't it? All the Broadway names over the years who have been speculated as potential Dollys (LuPone, Chenoweth, etc) probably would have generated respectable, even strong, box office receipts--but nowhere near the level of a Bette (or Cher or Streisand). The show itself isn't the star here. |
