At the time the story is set, the late 19th Century, Dolly Levi probably would have realistically been in her early 40's (as was Carol Channing when she first played the role). Dolly would likely have married Ephraim in her teens and enjoyed a 20+ year marriage before widowhood and making the decision to seek out a third act to her life.
I have no idea how old Jane Cowl or Ruth Gordon were when they played it, but Shirley Booth certainly appeared older than that.
I think we've gradually come to accept the idea of actresses in their 60's and 70's playing the role, first because Channing kept returning to it, second because, as a society, we've come to look at aging in a different way (60's and 70's now is much different than 60's and 70's in prior generations, and third because the parade of actresses who followed Channing in the original production and the original tours were largely older.
I wonder if an actress in her 40's would even be accepted in the role today. Would she appear way too young to our contemporary eyes? Or would someone in her 40's not have had the time to have the long, iconic career that we've come to expect from actresses playing this role in major productions. If Midler or Peters had played Dolly in the 1980's...would they have had the impact that they've had in the current production? |
