My favorite change in the screenplay is a little scene where Dolly overhears Cornelius and Barnaby plotting to close the store and play hooky in New York for the day and takes the opportunity to point them in the direction of Irene Molly's hat shop at a time (I think) just before her appointment there with Horace.
I've always hated that, on stage, the two just happen to be in the right place in all New York at the right time to encounter their boss and Dolly. I know it's fluff and I know "it's a musical so it doesn't have to be logical or make sense," but I love when, even fluffy shows are logical and make sense within their own realities.
The new scene shows Dolly thinking on her feet and making yet another attempt to manipulate everyone and control the entire situation.
I also love that there's one simple scene that tells you everything you need to know as backstory to the "Ernestina" character. Of course, we know that Dolly has friends everywhere in places high and low (mostly low, it seems), so, of course, she spots an actress friend on a parade float the very moment that she needs an actress to fulfill her scheme. That bit has always worked for me and I totally get the friendship between Dolly and Gussie, and why Dolly asks her to play "Ernestina" and why she agrees. All this plays out in a 90 second or so scene.
Since Horace never finds out about this deception, I always wondered what would happen later if Dolly and Horace just happened to run into her friend Gussie in the street one day. :) |
