Director/Choreographer Dennis Edenfield on Betty Grable's Hello, Dolly!

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At the age of 19, Dennis Edenfield stepped aboard aGreyhound bus in his hometown of New Orleans and headed for New York City. Hischildhood dream of being on Broadway had begun. Just like in the movies! Thiswas April of 1966. As a performer he has been fortunate to have performed onBroadway and in National Tours, appeared in several films and on manytelevision shows. As a director/choreographer he has over 100 productions tohis credit. As of this writing, he now wears a third hat as a producingartistic director for Premier Performing Arts, a professional theatre company.He has been lucky to work with every level of professionalism, from New Yorkand Hollywood celebrities to early career talent who went on to great careersand accolades. It continues to be a great ride. Welcome to his story.In 1966, he went to his first Broadway audition after asummer of stock. He was told that was the best way to get his Equity card. Thatshow was Hello, Dolly! Gower Championwas actually at the auditions. Ah, those were the days! 

Dennisis 2nd to Betty’s left on the ramp  (Courtesy: Dennis)

At that audition, hekept two dancers: Sal Pernice and Dennis. Paul was cast as Barnaby’sunderstudy. He also played Stanley. Dennis was offered the position of the maleswing in the Betty Grable Company in Chicago. Dennis had been in the business“ten minutes” at this point and didn’t know what a swing was! He was a gymnastand had seen the show and he remembered one of the dancers swinging on therafters on the set of the hay and feed store during It Takes a Woman. 

Dennisis behind the "S" in the Yonkers sign

He thought, “Well, I can do that,” So, he tookthe position of swing not knowing what he was getting in to! When he arrived atthe Shubert Theater in Chicago, he almost died when he found out what his jobwas. He wasn’t capable of doing it. He admits he is slightly dyslexic and aslow learner. He also had only been dancing three years at that point. Fortunately,Jack Craig, who was their dance captain caught on pretty quickly. He taughtDennis his track and when people were out, Jack would go into their track andDennis would go into Jack’s until he got to learn people’s tracks. The companyclosed four months into Dennis’ contract. 

Dennisis third from the left (back row)

There were nine dancers and fivesingers in this part of the ensemble. Dennis was the one swing for all of them.There was a female swing for the ladies. Nowadays, they hire three swings. Three weeks after the show closed on the road, Betty Grablewent into the Broadway Company to take over for Martha Raye. They called Dennisto come in and swing again. He guesses he was ok after all. He said no to whatwould have been his first Broadway show. He hated the job. He told them that ifa role opened up, to please call him. He was never going to swing again as longas he lived. Every time he went on, it was a nightmare. He never did swingagain!

Betty Grable

Dennis was in the show a total of five months. Betty Grableis the only Dolly that Dennis worked with. Dennis thought she was terrific inthe role. He grew up watching her movies; therefore, he knew exactly who shewas. Just like in the movies, when he first walked through the stage door atthe Shubert Theater in Chicago, she was walking down the spiral staircasebackstage and the first thing he saw were her show boots and those legendarylegs. He knew immediately it was Betty Grable before he even saw her face. Shealways wore an over sized man’s dress white shirt backstage when she was havingher make-up and wig put on. She also wore fishnet stockings. That was his firstglimpse at Betty Grable. She was, at that point, ill unbeknownst to thecompany. A press release would be sent ahead to the papers in each city to thepress alerting them of her vocal challenges. She had throat cancer. Her standbywas Anne Russell. Anne did go on for Betty a few times and there was one timein which Betty took a week off. Dennis was in the show for two months before he was able togo out there and enjoy it and not have it be about “where do I go next”? 

Martha Raye, Grable, Eve Arden

Whenhe would do the hectic Waiters Gallop,the other dancers would just push him out of the way on stage.  As stated previously, Betty was very sociable with the cast.Several times, she invited the company up to her suite at the hotel. She wouldshow one of her movies and regale the cast with stories of her past and career. Beyondthese moments, Dennis really didn’t see a lot of her outside of the show. Betty was seeing a younger cast member by the name of BobRemick. 

Betty Grable and Max Showalter

They ended up living together in Las Vegas and he took care of her atthe end of her life. Years later, Dennis did Irene on Broadway with DebbieReynolds. After Debbie left that show, she went back to Vegas to do her clubact. Dennis went with her. Betty and Bob were living at that time in a bungalowcottage behind the Desert Inn. In fact, when Betty died, Agnes Moorehead calledDebbie to tell her. After the show, Debbie had the stage manager bring Dennisinto her dressing room. She wanted Dennis to hear it from her before he heardit on the news. In addition to Betty Grable, Dennis saw Mary Martin whom heloved, Martha Raye who really surprised him. Her speeches to Ephraim wereincredibly moving. She was also very funny. Dennis also saw Pearl Bailey andEthel Merman. The only Dolly he ever saw who he thinks missed the mark wasPhyllis Diller. It was all about her and not so much about the show. Dennis worked with Gower again when he came in to save Irene. Originally, the director was JohnGielgud. God bless him, but he should never have been picked to direct anAmerican musical. Debbie Reynolds got on the phone and called Gower in Malibuand said, “Help!” He cleared his calendar and came in and literally saved theshow. Dennis was put into Dolly byGower and got the opportunity to work closely with him again on Irene. Dennis is a director/choreographernow and he learned a lot from watching both Michael Bennett and Gower Champion.They were both geniuses.

Gower and his chorus girls

Gower’s cleverness is what set him apart from otherchoreographers. He was clever with quick set changes. There was not oneblackout in the show. He insisted on not having an overture. The originalproduction did not have an overture. As a director, Dennis likes to avoidblackouts as much as possible. The audience enjoys seeing the transitionsbetween scenes. Dennis learned that from Gower.  Other than name recognition, it is the Dolly number thatstill resonates with audiences almost fifty years later. Again, that’s Gower.When he came in to direct Irene, they already had a choreographer, PeterGennero. They actually worked together on the show. 
Gower desired to createanother Hello, Dolly type of numberout of the Irene number. 
While on theroad, prior to Broadway, they would work on that number five hours a day excepton two show days. They would go into rehearsal, and it would be a brand newnumber AND it would go in the show that night. Again, Dennis learned a lot fromwatching him do that. There are great numbers in his other shows, but Hello, Dolly is Gower’s signaturenumber.It is a real crowd pleaser. Even kids enjoy it. They lovethe characters. Dennis now as the artistic director of his own theater companyalways has Dolly on his list of shows to do. He knows it will sell. Once again,there is the name recognition.
Dennis never second guessed his decision not to go toBroadway with Dolly. He actually hadanother job at the time, Hellzapoppin’.  Itwas a pre-Broadway tryout. This was the summer of ’67 in Montreal with SoupySales. It didn’t make it to Broadway. Dennis also injured his knee in thatcompany and had to leave the show prematurely. Dennis was already cast in thiscompany when he was called for Dollyon Broadway. It was OK with him to be able to say no. Who knew what was goingto happen with Hellzapoppin’? If hehad been offered something other than a swing, he would have said yes.
Dennis has directed Hello,Dolly a few times and should return to Broadway. He thinks Debbie Reynoldswould make a great Dolly. 

Hello, Debbie!

Marge Champion concurs. However, eight shows a weekis a heavy burden at any age. Carol Channing was seventy four when she playedDolly in the 1995 Broadway revival. Dennis loved the prestige of being in one of the most iconicshows ever. He also loved working with a big huge movie star. He was starstruck. He loved her even though she chewed him out one night. He was coveringfor either Danny or Manny. She sang, “Hello…” He was supposed to do a littlecross step and lean into her. He didn’t do it because he didn’t realize that hewas the character that he was supposed to be at that moment. After the show,she requested Dennis in her dressing room via the stage manager. She wasn’thappy because she felt that she had been left standing there. She was supposedto react to that movement. He apologized, of course, and it never happenedagain. As stated, Dennis learned that he never desired to be aswing again and stuck to that. He did learn, however, that he could learnquicker than he realized he could. He did have to learn all those roles. Healso considers himself lucky being able to learn from a master like GowerChampion. 

original Columbia Pictures publicity photo, 1954. Marge and Gower Championclassicmoviemusicals.com

He didn’t realize some of this until he started directing. It was thesame with Michael Bennett. Dennis also did AChorus Line on Broadway. When Michael put Dennis in the show, he once toldhim that if he ever decided to leave the show, he should be a director. Hewatched Dennis and told him he had great instincts. Originally, Dennis was inthe LA Company. When the show went to Chicago, they did a mini workshop like hedid with the original cast. Michael asked Dennis to work with one of theSheilas. He felt that Dennis had a very good eye. On Dennis’ final night of Hello, Dolly, the company went out for drinks after the show. Whenhe went back by the theater, they were loading the sets out of the theater.That made him sad. Aside from being personally selected by Gower and workingwith Gower Champion, Dennis saw Mary Martin star in the show when she playedNew Orleans where he grew up. He ushered there and saw the show a few times. 

Anne Russell

Heloved seeing Anne Russell go on a few times there. She used Martin’sarrangements. Betty Grable had her own arrangements but Martin’s were much moreexciting since she was a singer. He once got tickets for his mom to see Martinin the show. Dennis’ mom, unfortunately, died in a car accident when he was instock. When he was in Dolly, he would imagine his mom was in the audience. Hewishes she had known that Gower had cast him in Hello, Dolly! Somehow, she knows!

Thank you Dennis Edenfield 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 want 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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