My dear Carol Channing passed away this morning at the age of 97.
I celebrate this Broadway legend and my many years working with her.
What a gift.
Carol and Hello, Dolly! changed my life forever in 1994.
The experience gave me my first Broadway show; I met my husband of 24 years, Michael; supervising the national tour gave me the downpayment for my first home; and I have been lucky to stage almost a dozen major regional productions of the show passing on what I learned from Carol and our director, Lee Roy Reams.
Celebrate our fabulous Tony Award winning, Academy Award nominee (Thoroughly Modern Millie) Carol Channing today. She is, was, and always will be a national treasure.
I originally wrote some of this post years ago to celebrate her 90th birthday, but updated it with a couple more stories. Everyone always asks for the stories... :)
Back in 2010, I performed with her again (picture below) in the opening number of the Gypsy of the Year competition, which is a major charity event for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. She brought the house down as only she can.
The last time Carol and I danced together at the Gypsy of the Year event in 2010
Thank you, Bruce Glikas, for the photo :)
For those that don't know, I spent two and a half incredible years performing with Carol in the last Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!. I eventually became the production supervisor, and she would ask me for notes - on how to perform the role of Dolly Levi!
As if I could tell her anything she didn't already know.
Me with Carol at the 2010 Gypsy of the Year event on Broadway
A quick Carol story: when I was supervising Dolly on tour, one day we had a particularly long and dreadful travel day - two planes, a bus, a train and a donkey or two - to get to what Carol called "a soccer arena" where we would perform the show that night.
In the sound check Carol looked down and realized that the musician's pit was 25 feet beneath us. This was the pit that I had to leap over every night in the middle of the Hello, Dolly! number. For the first time in 30 years of doing the show she decided this was dangerous.
After the sound check she came looking for me to ask if someone could put a net or something between the pit and the stage in case those of us who jumped over the pit happened to fall into it. At this point, I had 30 minutes before the performance and was taking a long shower to rid myself of the long travel day. This being a "soccer arena" the showers where open showers in a locker room.
Covered in soap and standing under the water I suddenly heard a very low baritone voice say "Randy". I turned and there was Carol, in the open showers with me, smiling. She waited for me to turn and went into her concerns about the pit, a net and all sorts of other things as I stood there completely naked.
When she finished expressing her concerns I said, "Absolutely, Carol. But right now I'm soaking wet, taking a shower."
She looked me up and down, smiled and said, "Oh! Yes, of course. (pause) Well, you know, we're all just show folk," and then turned and left me to finish my shower.
Nudity was nothing to this old pro who had changed costumes in the wings for decades.
For the Gypsy of the Year event in 2010, they asked many of the Dolly boys to come back and do the opening number with Carol as a tribute to her. As the number evolved, I ended up partnering with her much of the number.
While we were rehearsing for a few days, the producer of a documentary of Carol's life asked us if we'd sit and talk about our time with her. About nine of us sat for about an hour and a half reminiscing and sharing.
I only had one particular story about Carol that I knew I wanted to share. As the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! was winding down, one of the male dancers in the show (who was very dear to me and to Carol) was dying of AIDS.
I was very grateful my brief story about Carol and Don Ives made it into the film, Larger Than Life.
Watch below.
RIP my dear, wonderful Carol. I am certain there is a standing ovation awaiting you as you enter immortality.
Freezing in the cold but loving life on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Having lunch floating down the San Antonio Riverwalk
Reunited at the Gypsy of the Year in 2010
The cover of Theater Week Magazine just after we opened the 1995 Broadway revival
of Hello, Dolly! A very young me on my knee on the left.
I can't believe how time goes by. Twenty years ago today, I made my Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade debut with the 1995 Broadway revival cast of Hello, Dolly! (including the incomparable Tony Award-winner herself, Carol Channing)!
I remember this like it was yesterday. We all had to get up waaaaaaaay early, get down to the Lunt-Fontanne Theater where we were playing to get into costume, then get on a bus to ride about 10 blocks down Broadway to sit in a trailer before we headed out to do "Before The Parade Passes By."
And it was so cold! You'd never know to look at Carol, though. And what a thrill to be on the most famous and watched parade with the world.
I then headed home for a most fab dinner with (then boyfriend, now husband) Michael and my bestie, Carlye.
During dinner the phone rang, and it was Vanessa Williams calling from the West Coast to say "Happy Thanksgiving!" - and, since she was watching the parade in California - "you look like you're freezing!" LOL
I still love my Broadway Dolly! family all these years later. What a great memory to find this video today.
Hello, Dolly! is back on Broadway in a brand new, luscious revival starring the effervescent Bette Midler.
In this episode of The Randy Report podcast, I share some history of the classic Broadway blockbuster including how some songs were once cut, and then, restored to the show.
Who knows the songs "Penny In My Pocket," "Love, Look In My Window," and "World Take Me Back?" All were once cut from Dolly - guess which one is back in the new revival?
BONUS >>>Listen in as I share Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams' performance of one of those "trunk songs," delivered in spectacular fashion, from when she wore the "red dress" in a major production of Hello, Dolly!
Broadway World has the details on the meeting of two icons:
Broadway's newest Dolly Gallagher Levi met the classic original last week, as the fabulous Bette Midler was introduced to the legendary Carol Channing.
Channing, who is now 95, took Broadway by storm and got a Tony Award, too, when she opened in the original 1964 production of Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart's HELLO, DOLLY!, a musical version of Thornton Wilder's THE MATCHMAKER.
Bette Midler stars in the upcoming Broadway revival, which begins previewing March 15, 2017, with an official opening night of April 20, 2017. Four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks directs and Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce joins Midler as leading man Horace Vandergelder.
This past Monday, Bob the Drag Queen was crowned winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8.
Along with the title comes scepter, tiara and $100,000 prize money.
BUT - the true icing on the cake was a personal message from the iconic Carol Channing to Bob for his "colorful" impersonation during the Snatch Game challenge.
My dear Carol Channing celebrates her 95th birthday today.
Back in 2010, I performed with her again (picture above) in the opening number of the Gypsy of the Year competition, which is a major charity event for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. She brought the house down as only she can.
For those that don't know, I spent two and a half incredible years performing with Carol in the last Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!. I eventually became the production supervisor where she would ask me for notes - on how to perform the role of Dolly Levi! As if I could tell her anything she didn't already know.
A quick Carol story: when I was supervising Dolly on tour, one day we had a particularly long and dreadful travel day - two planes, a bus, a train and a donkey or two - to get to what Carol called "a soccer arena" where we would perform the show that night.
In the sound check Carol looked down and realized that the musician's pit was 25 feet beneath us. This was the pit that I had to leap over every night in the middle of the Hello, Dolly! number. For the first time in 30 years of doing the show she decided this was dangerous.
After the sound check she came looking for me to ask if someone could put a net or something between the pit and the stage in case those of us who jumped over the pit happened to fall into it. At this point, I had 30 minutes before the performance and was taking a long shower to rid myself of the long travel day. This being a "soccer arena" the showers where open showers in a locker room.
Covered in soap and standing under the water I suddenly heard a very low baritone voice say "Randy". I turned and there was Carol, in the open showers with me, smiling. She waited for me to turn and went into her concerns about the pit, a net and all sorts of other things as I stood there completely naked.
When she finished expressing her concerns I said "Absolutely Carol. But right now I'm soaking wet, taking a shower." She looked me up and down, smiled and said "Oh! Yes, of course. Well, you know - we're all just show folk" and then turned and left me to finish my shower. Nudity was nothing to this old pro who had changed costumes in the wings for decades.
Celebrate our fabulous Carol Channing today. She is truly a national treasure.
As Carol likes to say, "the first 95 years are the hardest."
I've been working hard in Boca Raton, Florida, this week where I'm choreographing Hello, Dolly! again with my partner in crime, Lee Roy Reams.
This time will be a little different, though, because Lee Roy is not only directing again but starring - as "Dolly Levi."
This was the first week of rehearsals and this morning we do a crawl through of Act One. The dancers have been great picking up all the choreography, and working with Lewis Stadlen, James Clow and Susan Powell again on this show has made me laugh all week.
Next week we move on to Act Two, including the "big number" itself - "Hello Dolly."
So I was in the mood to throw back to 1995 when I did this fab musical wonder with the original legend herself, Carol Channing.
Day Two of the Artists Challenge - (For 5 days, 1 post each day, 1pic or several pics or video of your artistic journey so far. Each day nominate 2 people to join).
I have to include my first Broadway show - HELLO, DOLLY! with the incredible Carol Channing. I joke with folks that practically every show I ever went after I never got. And then the incredible blessing that happened were things I never dreamed of. DOLLY was one of those.
The show had been cast for months, but a week before rehearsals were to start one male dancer got a Broadway show (DOLLY was set to tour for a year before coming into NYC). I went to the audition - something like 120 guys were there. One spot available. They taught one combination and cut to 30. I was kept. We did another combination, they cut to 15. I was kept again. It was here that I heard they needed someone 6 foot something because they'd started costumes and the guy was that tall. Clearly - I am not. I went in to sing thinking "I'm so not getting this" so I threw caution to the wind and just sang. I went home and considered how I was going to have to wait tables again for the first time in four years. The call came within an hour.
Thank you Lee Roy Reams for the amazing gift that is DOLLY. It was a wonderful family. In 22 months no one left the show. We all loved what we were doing.
I ended up handling choreography duties for the post-Bway tour and have done something like 9 productions since. Oh - and I should mention that DOLLY (like a good matchmaker) introduced me to my husband, Michael Caprio. We've been together over 20 years. Can you ask more of a Broadway debut?
I'm second from the left in the Waiters Gallop pic below - please note the pulled up feet :)
Carol Channing with Justin Vivian Bond
All photos: David Gordon
Carol Channing, Tony Award-winner and Broadway legend, returned to the New York stage on January 20th to celebrate her 93rd birthday and the 50th anniversary of the hit musical "Hello, Dolly!" at an appearance at The Town Hall.
Carol - yes, we are on a first name basis as I was fortunate to work with Carol for over two years in the last Broadway revival of "Hello, Dolly!" - displayed her famous wit and humor in an hour long discussion with performance artist Justin Vivian Bond.
At one point, when asked why Carol and Mary Martin never brought the play "Legends" in to Broadway, Carol dryly answered "It was a terrible show." After a pause, she added "That was a bitch remark."
The evening's biggest thrill came toward the very end, when Channing, with the gravitas of an actor still in her prime, delivered the big "Ephraim, let me go" monologue from Hello, Dolly! and launched into the chorus of the Jerry Herman musical's title song. It was a fitting finish from a legend who still knows how to please her audience.
My beautiful, dear Carol Channing did a fun photo-shoot for OUT Magazine in advance of her upcoming evening at Town Hall in NYC on January 20th. From OUT:
At 92, she has grown a little frail — she has some trouble walking, and her eyesight is weak — but she is still a bewitching, arrestingly vivid personality.
The very air around her seemed to sizzle as she and performance artist Justin Vivian Bond were photographed recently beside the pool of her friend Sylvia’s lovely ranch-style house.
She cracked wise, hammed it up, and gracefully accepted compliments on her snappy blue trouser suit, which featured a bejeweled, embroidered snake winding up one leg.
A campaign has been launched to nominate Tony Award winner and Broadway legend Carol Channing for the Kennedy Center Honors.
People who know Carol well, like Broadway stars Lee Roy Reams and Marge Champion have joined the endeavor.
As many of you know, I spent several years working with Carol during the last revival of Hello, Dolly! on Broadway. A few years ago I was honored to share a Broadway stage with her again at the "Gypsy of the Year" gala in 2010 and was invited to speak about my experiences with her in the documentary "Carol Channing: Larger Than Life."
I love Carol so dearly; and her talent is so vast, special and glorious.
You can personally recommend Carol for this well-deserved honor on the official Kennedy Center website by clicking here.
The Honors recipients are typically announced in early September, but the decisions on who to honor begin much, much earlier in the year. It's never too early to recommend an artist for the honor.
When CarolChanning heard that Johnny Depp wants to play her in a film, the 92-year-0ld responded with humor.
Her rep tells RumorFix, “Carol
says she would be honored to have Johnny portray her in a bio-pic. The
fact that he is a man, doesn’t phase her at all, she can’t recall having
ever seen anyone imitate her who didn’t have five o’clock shadow.”
Johnny made the proclamation during a Q&A session at CinemaCon while promoting Lone Ranger.
A couple of years ago, I reunited with my "Hello, Dolly!" buds from the 1995 revival and we did a number at Gypsy of the Year with Carol Channing. Great, warm, wonderful time.
At that event they sold special "Hello, Dolly!" Christmas tree ornaments - so, of course, I had to have one.
Carol sits on my mantle overseeing all the holiday activity, much like 'Dolly' making her magic at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.
