Tony Parise (Madeline Kahn’s Production of Hello, Dolly in 1992)

Hello, Dolly happened for Tony Parise because of Lee RoyReams.

Tony Parise

They had worked in the original 42^ndStreet together and they remained good friends. When the summer tour of Dolly was being put together builtaround Madeline Kahn, Paul Blake of St. Louis’ MUNY Theater had a lot to dowith putting it all together. Because of Tony’s connection with Blake, theMUNY, and Reams, it all came together.Tony had heard all kinds of things about Madeline Kahn priorto this production, both good and bad. Therefore, he was a little excited and alittle scared. He had no idea what he was going to encounter. Immediately,however, she was a lovely, lovely person. She was not crazy as he was led tobelieve. She was very sane, very smart, very funny. 

Madeline Kahn

What he got her to dowithin the choreography were nods to her classic films. There were momentshonoring Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. They were just “littlekisses”, little moments. It was absolutely wonderful. 
At the end of the Dolly number,she turned to one of the dancing waiters and said “Hello, Cowboy!” (a nod to Blazing Saddles). In her brilliance andin her genius, in the reprise of Hello,Dolly, she figured out that Ah, SweetMystery of Life goes perfectly over the tune of Hello, Dolly. She sang it as an obbligato and Tony thought it wasthe most wonderful thing. She kept it in period. She was not breaking down thatfourth wall since Ah, Sweet Mystery ofLife is of that period. It was a perfect fit matching who Madeline Kahn iswith her screen persona. It was genius.    The most wonderful day of Tony’s theatrical life for Tonywas at Jerry Herman’s townhouse on the East side. Lee Roy and Tony were sittingon the sofa. 

Jerry Herman

Jerry was sitting at the piano. Madeline was at the crook of thepiano. Jerry and Madeline were picking keys. Of course, Madeline doesn’t singin Carol’s keys. They went through the score and the play methodically andwould try all the keys. Tony just got to sit there and be the “fly on the wall”.It was like going to theater heaven.  The biggest change in the business that Tony has seen sincethen is that now the “tail is wagging the dog.” He believes that the t-shirts,the mugs, and the memorabilia are thought of and designed and built long beforethe show. The commercialism is leading the way. When the money leads the wayinstead of the art, you are in deep trouble. That is Tony’s opinion.  Tony had first heard the score when he was a kid. He wasfour when the original cast album came out. It was probably one of the firstmusicals he had an album of. Tony has always loved Hello,Dolly! He also loves Jerry Herman. The show was always iconic for Tony. Itwas a thrill to be asked to recreate it. They don’t write them like thatanymore: so to the point, so poetic, so romantic, clever, and singable. Tonylongs for Jerry Herman. 
He could listen to him every day of his life.    Tony’s thought on why the Dolly number ALWAYS stops the showis all those men! Again, it is the simplicity of Gower Champion. 
It is blackand white, block shaped. Then throw in those great male harmonies and Dolly inthat iconic red dress. It is such a work of art. It is not just waiters foolingaround behind some crazy woman. It is all such a piece. It is placed at exactlythe right moment in the show.  Working with Lee Roy is just pure fun according to Tony. LeeRoy knows Dolly inside, out, backwards, and forwards.  There’s not a problem there! Lee Roy was THEguy. He has such an association with Carol Channing. Tony just felt lucky to bethere. He was there to support Lee Roy. The show is pretty sacred to Tony. There are some thingsthat are pretty sacrosanct to him. The Hello,Dolly number is one of them. Tony also loved working with John Schuck as HoraceVandergelder. “What a love.” He is such a great guy. He is a lovable curmudgeon.He totally captured both sides of Vandergelder.

Tony at Camp Broadway

Tony doesn’t think this production had a significant impacton his career. He does think it looks nice on his resume that he choreographed Hello, Dolly starring Madeline Kahn foras long as that will hold. It enriched his life.   Tony’s thoughts on Dolly have not changed over the years. Hethinks it is a wonderful book. Michael Stewart was a friend of his because of 42^nd Street, as well. Tonythinks Dolly is one of the best books of a musical that there is. Tony is nowthe artistic director of a theater education company called Camp Broadway. Lastyear, Tony did Dolly with the kids.He thought the kids should know about Jerry Herman and a classic they might nothear about in any other way. Dolly isstill very dear to Tony’s heart. 

Courtesy James Darrah (Cornelius Hackl)

At one of their earliest run throughs, Tony saw the magic.This production was perfectly cast. In the old days, they used to say, “If youdon’t have a show in the rehearsal hall, without the sets and costumes, you don’thave a show.”   In the rehearsal room injust jeans and T shirts with nothing else, they had a show. This production and tour was spear headed by the MUNY andPaul Blake. They rehearsed and opened in Atlanta. They then went to MUNY, andfrom there, they went to Dallas and Kansas City. Each place had its own littlepersonality. It was as if they were readjusting the show each time. The showwas the show for the whole tour.
It is so hard for Tony to say what the future audiences of Dolly will be. As Tony has already said,it has such a great book, it’s a great story, and it is so romantic. He feelsthat our society has lost what romance is all about. In the current climate ofBroadway, he’s not sure how it would fit. He thinks it needs to be done,keeping the integrity of it, of course. He does feel that it needs to beupdated as far as the presentation is concerned in order to keep it “current”. He cannot explain that any better than that. He feels that there is a place forthat; it just needs to be rethought a bit.Doing Dolly justreinforced what Tony already knew of the genius of Gower Champion and hissimplicity. Tony has done Hello, Dollyat other places including Trinity High School starring Rudolph Giuliani's and Donna Hanover's daughter,Caroline! The simplicity that was Gower’s genius hits home with Tony. All ofthis supposed choreography nowadays which is very calisthenic and kills peopleright, left, and center is completely not necessary. Trust the material and dothe absolute right amount of movement is what it should be all about. Therearen’t many people choreographing today who have learned that lesson.
Dolly is certainly among the top five shows of Tony’s career. 
It is among the tradition of good old fashioned Broadway. What Gower did wasabsolute genius, but now, Tony thinks of what Gower would have done with today’stechnology and how things are presented. Tony can re-imagine what Gower woulddo now. Tony would honor him by bringing it forward to give it a new life.He feels that the person to do a new revival would beBernadette Peters. He thinks it would be a better fit for her than Gypsy.
 As stated earlier, Lee Roy knew the show very well. Tony hadnever done it. He had only seen clips of it. What Tony, therefore, brought tothe production was giving Madeline Kahn the confidence to take on Dolly,

Channing, Herman, Reams

tobring the outline of the character combined with presenting Madeline Kahn inher own special way as Dolly. It was a concept that she was very reluctant todo. She wanted to play a part and leave Madeline Kahn at the stage door. BothLee Roy and Tony convinced her that people were coming to see Madeline Kahn IN Hello, Dolly!
She actually told bothTony and Lee Roy after she won the Tony Award in The Sisters Rosensweig that there was no way that she could havedone that show without the experience she had with them in Dolly the previous summer.
 It gave her the confidence andpermission to be Madeline Kahn within a role. Tony did not continue to tweak the show after it opened. Ofcourse, they were on a tour. Madeline insisted that Tony go on the tour withher.
He was the only choreographer that was allowed to go along. She reallyfelt more secure with him there. Of course, they had to tweak it for outdoorsand expand it for indoors when they got to Atlanta. They had to pull it in abit. During their tech rehearsal, the passarelle was not attached properly. Inthe middle of the tech
run through, it bolted and shook and Madeline hit thedeck and crawled off the passarelle.
She said she was not going back out there.It was opening night and the audience was already arriving in the lobby.
 Tonyhad to go out there and walk through the number on the passarelle and did theDolly number for her after they secured the passarelle so that she felt safeenough to go back out there. At the MUNY, there were two giant Percheron horsesthat pulled the streetcar across the back of the stage.
 One of them had torelieve himself. Madeline had to step over a river of horse urine and not getit on her crinolines. Those were probably the worst experiences Tony had withthis production.
In St Louis, Tony’s hometown, the guy who played Rudolph gotsick and could not do a couple of performances. There of course were nounderstudies in summer stock. Because Tony was there and knew the show, he gotto play Rudolph at the MUNY. He had been out of Actor’s Equity for years sincehe was now a choreographer/director. It was kind of fun. He had the insider’sview as well. Tony stayed with the entire tour as choreographer, which ishighly unusual. As stated earlier, Madeline refused to let him go. Lee Roy didnot continue beyond Atlanta. Tony took it into all the cities. Tony did see Carol Channing play Dolly in one of therevivals. That was amazing to see, to witness. He hasn’t seen that many otherDollys, to be honest. The closing was not a surprise. It ran its allotted course. Closingnight was very celebratory. It had been a wonderful experience for all thatwere involved. Madeline knew that she was going to be going on to do The Sisters Rosensweig by then. Tony keeps going back to “I've lost everything: my job, myfuture, everything people think is important, but I don't care - because evenif I have to dig ditches for the rest of my life, I shall be a ditch-digger whoonce had a wonderful day.”  Tony, too,had a wonderful “day” with Madeline Kahn!

Thank you Tony Parise for the gifts you have given to the world and will continue to give!

With grateful XOXOXs ,


Check out my site celebrating my forthcoming book on Hello, Dolly!

I desire this to be a definitive account of Hello, Dolly!  
If any of you reading this have appeared in any production of Dolly, I'm interested in speaking with you!

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               My next blog will be... My Exclusive interview with Emily Yancy (Irene Molloy in HELLO, DOLLY! with Pearl Bailey and Cab Callaway, 1967 )

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This Blog is dedicated to ALL THE DOLLYS and ANYONE who has EVER had a connection with ANY of them on ANY Level!