I too am curious about what Buckley will bring to the role and am wondering if she'll be surrounded by a cast of names we know who might also give interesting, fun performances. Like others, I see that she doesn't seem like a natural fit for the role, but, as we saw with the original production and the endless tours that it spawned, this is a role that can stretch and accommodate a variety of talents from a whole spectrum of actresses. And, if we get a darker, more melancholy Dolly Levi here, I bet that Buckley and Zaks will make it work, possibly in a way that nobody expects. And, sometimes, brilliance can be achieved by taking something so familiar and spinning it in a completely new way.
I really hope I can make a field trip to New Haven or Philadelphia to catch this. Or maybe, if the Broadway production has closed, Buckley's company can play a tour engagement in New York for a couple of weeks if there's a theatre available.
I wonder if an actress of Buckley's stature had to audition. If so, I imagine that Zaks (and Rudin) saw something there that worked for them before hiring her. I just cannot imagine Rudin risking a national tour, even on someone with Buckley's resume, without seeing her. But, on the other hand, she is someone whose work they could be expected to know, so perhaps she's offer only. |
