The casting of eccentric, character types as Cornelius and Irene in HELLO, DOLLY! is a template that I really wish had been followed more in latter years. It seems that those roles are now usually cast (including in the recent revival) with traditionally handsome/pretty leading man/lady types. And that is fine. My admiration for Gavin Creel and Kate Baldwin is second to none. But they can play any number of musical theatre leading roles and are certainly much more castable, in general, than an actor in the Reilly or Brennan mode might be today, so why not cast a wider net when casting these roles? I'd love to see what different energy a younger Brooks Ashmankas might have brought to Cornelius, for example.
I believe that I learned in a discussion thread here that the casting of even the original production of HELLO, DOLLY! went more in the traditional direction once Reilly and Brennan left the show. |
