| re: 50th anniversary showing of the Hello, Dolly! film | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 05:17 pm EDT 08/14/19 | |
| In reply to: re: 50th anniversary showing of the Hello, Dolly! film - AlanScott 04:21 pm EDT 08/13/19 | |
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| Just to be clear, everything I wrote was regarding the movie and not the stage play, because that's what the thread is primarily about. I agree that there's lot of detail and color in Wilder that didn't survive to the musical for whatever reason, including, as you point out, the desperation that is part of Dolly's motivation for all these shenanigans. Another detail I miss is that Dolly and Horace know each other because Dolly and Horace's late wife were friends. When you think about it, it's a good question...how in the world did a Yonkers businessman ever cross paths with a New York-based matchmaker? Well, of course, the wives of two businessmen might meet in any number of ways and become friends. Interestingly, the scenic design of the recent revival revealed a detail not in evidence at all in the text of either work (as far as I remember)...that Ephraim Levi was a milliner. I loved that because, not only is it a nice little detail, it explains how Dolly knows Irene Molloy. You're right about chance and coincidence being the basis of farce, but I guess I never really thought of this material, in any incarnation, as a farce in the traditional sense. The movie, especially, is a fairly realistic depiction of this world, as much as one's likely to get in a frothy musical, and one thing about farce is that it tends to evaporate when it's touched by reality. Another thing I like in the movie is dropping the wallet mix up in the Harmonia Gardens scene, another semi-farcical element that was dropped. I like that Irene and Minnie not only knew the truth about Cornelius and Barnaby, but that they figured it out early on, played along, and Irene was having such a great time that she was prepared from the onset to pay the dinner bill at Harmonia Gardens in appreciation. These women are smart, capable, and have their shit together in a way that these men do not and it's exactly what they need. The wallet thing works well on stage, but the change for the film works just as well. Do the women, on stage, ever find out the truth about Cornelius and Barnaby? I'm not sure they do, although there must be some off-stage conversation between Harmonia Gardens and everyone showing up at Vandergelder's the following morning. By the way, when describing Dolly, I didn't mean the word "mercenary" with a negative connotation and it was probably a poor choice of words. What I meant was that the character has, on this one day when we meet her, a single objective and that is to marry Horace and every action that she takes is a part of that plan, from taking the assignment of separating Ermengarde from Ambrose by taking her to New York...not really her balliwick...all the way through to her "grand exit" from Horace's life with "So Long Dearie." Actually...now that I think of it...there is one thing she does that has no bearing on her plan at all and that is completely altruistic: first, encouraging Cornelius and Barnaby to open a competing store across the street from Vandergelder's and then using that little wedge to make Horace take on Cornelius as a business partner. There's nothing in that for her, but it will improve life immensely for others. Even Barnaby kind of makes out in the deal here...he gets downgraded from potential partner to Chief Clerk, but perhaps he will be a future partner in Vandergelder's. I like your point about how it doesn't really make sense that Dolly was a habitue of such a fancy restaurant. I never really considered that before. I had always just assumed that the Levis lived way beyond their means and Ephraim's early death and lack of financial planning is the reason she's in this position. Dolly's first costume in the movie sort of reflects this as it kind of looks like its made out of the living room drapes, but none of the others follow the theme. She does have a line in Harmonia Gardens about how that spectacular dress is borrowed, but the costumes from the purple dress for the hat shop scene onward don't really reflect a character with financial issues. Irene, the lady with her own successful business, and, clearly, some money to throw around, dresses much more simply. |
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