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face=Georgia><FONT color=#252525>Even the overture gets an ovation in
soon-to-be-touring ‘Hello, Dolly!’</FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
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align=center><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Member, American Theatre Critics Association</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">“Hello,
Dolly!” is a star vehicle plain and simple.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It has been since </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111>the original </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">Broadway
and London productions over 50 </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111>years ago.</FONT></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%"></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">Thirty-eight
seconds into the opening number of this always classy and now-classic musical,
the likes of theater legends </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>Carol
Channing, Pearl Bailey, Mary Martin and Ethel Merman have entered the stage on a
horse-drawn trolley as the marvelously self-assured <SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
color=#111111>Dolly Gallagher Levi</FONT></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">.</SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111>In the 2017 Broadway revival, Bette Midler raised the role’s sass
quotient while her replacement, Bernadette Peters, offered a more endearing
Dolly imbued with layers of charm and warmth. She was the polish, said The
Washington Post, on Midler’s brass.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>She won the audience with her dimples, noted The New York Times, while
Midler did so with a </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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color=#222222>Cheshire cat</FONT></SPAN></FONT><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">’s
grin</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111><FONT face=Georgia>.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Georgia><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111>So the question to ask and answer at the opening of the Playhouse
Square launch of the touring </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">“Hello,
Dolly!” is</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111> what kind of Dolly is Tony Award-winning actress Betty Buckley,
the woman New York Magazine labeled “The Voice of Broadway” two decades
ago?</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
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color=#111111 face=Georgia><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></FONT> </P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%"><FONT
face=Georgia>Sadly, she is the least interesting thing on stage.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#111111 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>