I saw her last revival of HELLO, DOLLY! during its Broadway run at the Lunt-Fontanne. In those days PLAYBILL published a free Broadway Theatre Guide that was given out in box offices and hotels and was basically an ABC listing of all the shows playing on Broadway and gave information like theatre, address, performance schedule...and the running time. I always took note of the running time because I didn't live in the city then and usually was trying to squeeze in more than one show in a day and still make it to a bus or train to return home.
Anyway, when we saw HELLO, DOLLY!, I'd taken note of the running time, as usual, and noted, as the lights came up after Channing's lengthy curtain speech, that the speech had been included in the running time and the lights were coming up the moment that the Broadway Theatre Guide said they would.
My guess is that the curtain speech was as frozen in amber as the rest of the performance that day. |
