Karen Morrow on Hello, Dolly!

To contact us Click HERE

Karen Morrow was raised by operatic parents in Des Moines,Iowa and turned to "the theatre" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The nextstop was every major musical theatre, cabaret and concert hall from New York toHonolulu! In New York, she starred on Broadway in I Had A Ball; Joyful Noise;I'm Solomon; Music, Music; The Selling of the President; The Grass Harp and theTony Award winning The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Off Broadway, her starring roles included Sing Muse;The Boys From Syracuse; five seasons with the New York City Center during it'sgolden years of musical revivals and she starred in the Nationaltour of Show Boat. On Television, Karen starred as a regular on "The JimNabor's Hour" "Friends," "Tabitha" "Ladies'Man," "Goodnight Beantown," "Song by Song," and"Great Performances" for PBS; "Singing" for CBS; and hasbeen a guest star on "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," "The TonightShow," "The Today Show," "Alice," "Too Close ForComfort," "Loveboat," "Falconcrest," "Murder SheWrote," "Night Court," to mention just a few; and radio'sGarrison Keillors' "A Prarie Home Companion." Karen has sung with theLos Angeles Philharmonic, the Honolulu, Pacific, Minnesota, Milwaukee, andMetropolitan Symphony Orchestras and can be heard on eleven albums. She is therecipient of an Emmy, the coveted Theatre World Award, and five DramalogueAwards. Visit her website at www.karenmorrow.com. 
She also has the distinction of playing Dolly Levi in notone, but two productions. The first time Karen played Dolly was in the LA area,Redondo Beach. It was a theater that did big productions. Sadly, that is nolonger the case. She had done AnythingGoes there and they asked her to do Hello,Dolly! She said she would and Jerry Herman was invited to the openingnight. Jerry was living in Beverly Hills at the time. He said yes, yes, yes. WhenJerry found out that Karen was going to be doing it, he desired to coach Karenin the role. He wanted to make sure she hit all the points. That is the type ofguy he is. He has to absolutely be the “go to” guy. He wants to be in controlto preserve the quality of his work. This was around 1988 or ’89. 

Some of the many actresses who have played Dolly

Jerry askedher if she would be interested in doing a song that is rarely done in Dolly. Of course, it was one of thesongs written for Ethel Merman, Love,Look in My Window. She said, “Are you kidding? That would be wonderful.” Itis not always done. Going out on the passarelle and singing that song was areal highlight for Karen. It is so heartfelt and so simple. It is notcontrived. Karen is not saying that the show is contrived but it was built forCarol Channing and her style which is down in one. It is about being the mostoutstanding and the most wonderful person on stage. Karen doesn’t have thatkind of an ego. She prefers to sing a really beautiful ballad. Singing thatbeautiful song was the highlight for her. The part she hated the most was thatdinner scene! Remembering all of the business and the dialogue was tough ANDshe wasn’t old when she did it. It was not a conversation. It was a monologue.There is no lead in to anything.

with Jack Ritchel at The Sacramento Music Circus

The second time that Karen played Dolly was at TheSacramento Music Circus. Tom Ewell from The Seven Year Itch was her HoraceVandergelder. She had been doing a lot of shows there. The two characters that Karen played more than any other areReno Sweeney in Anything Goes and Molly Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown. She was Tammy Grimes’ standby and tookover in the National Company.  Ron Young was one of her brothers in "Unsinkable Molly Brown" in his first summer of stock at Kansas City Starlight in 1962. Unfortunately, Karen had to take second billing to the New Christy Minstrels (who did part of their club act in the party scenes in Act One and Act Two). That was the doing of Dick Burger, the producer, to bring in the current audience.
Karen hasbeen offered Dolly many times and has turned it down. She thinks it is awonderful show but “Dolly doesn’t have any conversations.” She just walks outon stage and talks. She goes out on the passarelle and talks. She goesthroughout the show and talks. She never answers a question. She is always thefirst to initiate in a scene. Karen found that very unsatisfying.

Christine Ebersole as Mame, Papermill Playhouse

She does feel the show should return to Broadway. She thinksthat Christine Ebersole would make a great Dolly. Jerry has expressed over theyears a revival of Dolly. He thinks now in terms of television stars.
Karen remembers those costume changes! For her last entranceshe wore this huge hat and a tasteful wig that she was never happy with; shewanted something “messy” like Carol wore. They would have to secure the hatwith a couple of large hat pins. She would start to sing and her mic wouldalways crack. They couldn’t figure out the problem and it was so annoying. Itdrove the audience, cast, and crew crazy. This went on about one week. Thesound man finally took all the wires home with him to try and get to the bottomof all of this. He discovered that Karen had been putting the hatpins throughthe wires of her mic! The battery pack was in her wig and so, of course, werethe wires. Her first Horace, Jack Ritschel, was as nice as was the entirecompany.  She found the entire experiencekind of scary just trying to remember her lines. It was not an age issue, itwas just that she wasn’t used to that kind of work. She prefers the give andtake that she is so used to from other shows.

Two of Jerry Herman's girls, Ginger Rogers and Angela Lansbury

Karen saw Carol Channing play Dolly several times.  There was never anyone like her before orsense. She occupies the entire stage and space. She was incredibly “odd” in awonderful way. Karen just thought she was magnificent. Karen also saw GingerRogers in the role. At that time, Karen was dating David Hartman. David was astage manager and portrayed Rudolph in the original Company. Karen says shecouldn’t find Ginger on stage! Karen’s original thought was that Channingreally left her mark on the show. Physically, Channing was so present and soenormous. Then Karen saw a review that essentially said “Channing is biggerthan life; unfortunately, Ginger Rogers is true to life.” That is the challengefor some actresses taking on this role. Karen has also seen Jo Anne Worley play Dolly who was charming andwonderful.  She didn’t do Jo Anne“shtick” which was interesting. On stage with really a really good property,she is respectful of the material. She wishes she had seen Pearl Bailey. Havingdone it and seen it, she doesn’t think that she would see it again unless afriend is in it.

Charles Nelson Reilly, Jerry Dodge, Eileen Brennan, Sondra Lee (Original Company)

In the original production, Karen was crazy about JerryDodge and Charles Nelson Reilly and Eileen Brennan and Sondra Lee. She thoughtthey were extraordinary. When they took stage, they were so complete andinteresting and traditional. It paid homage to the music and the script. Karenwas enamored by all of them that she named her dog Barnaby. She had a blondedog that reminded her of Jerry Dodge. Charles Nelson Reilly had a verydangerous cat named Cornelius. Charles was staying in an apartment owned by afamous opera star and his cat used to love to walk on the railing of theterrace defying the world. Charles was always going crazy as this cat hoveredover the city. Karen says she is such a mid-Westerner that her Dolly wasdefinitely a “corn-fed” Dolly! John Engstrom directed her first Dolly. She wasexperimenting with various ways of playing Dolly. He said, “Just be you.” Shehated that phrase! Karen has always thought of hers type as the kooky next doorneighbor with a sense of humor. She knows she has a big personality and a bigface. Instead of trying to hide that, she just went with it. That was it. Shebrought her own personality to the role. She doesn’t know how others see her. Shewas down to earth and bigger and warm. She says everyone will have to ask thosewho saw it what it was that she brought to the role! With both of these productions, they were not long runs. Shenever really settled into the role. With both productions, it was uncomfortablefor her. She was constantly alert and could not just “go with it.” That doesn’tsay anything about the show. That is Karen. She is always the first to say,“Oh, God, I didn’t get that.” Settling in is something she only did once andshe regretted it. She was doing Droodand settled in after three months and the words went right out of her head onenight.
John Engstrom who directed Karen’s first Dolly is knownprimarily as a choreographer and does very well in the LA area. He was a greatdirector who, as stated earler, encouraged her to be herself. He answered herquestions for her. The biggest problem she had in both places was “What do wedo about the dumplings?” Everybody had an idea and they tried them all. Theonly thing that worked was cotton candy. She tried the light bulb Kleenextrick. She hated the whole idea of the spitballs in her mouth. She couldn’t getit quite coordinated and didn’t do that very well.
Karen’s thoughts on Jerry Herman He is a perfectionist. He absolutely demands, and she meansthis in a nice way, respect for what he has written and how he has written.Karen has done Jerry Herman revues with both Lee Roy Reams and Jason Graae andPaige O’Hara. They went to colleges and conferences with Jerry and did concertsof his music. On the college circuit, these would be followed with a Q and Awith the audience. They did many of these singing the same songs. So she isvery familiar with him and what he demands. Jerry would sit in the wings andlisten. If anyone ever did their own interpretations, Jerry would questiontheir choices. He spoke to Karen about some phrasing that she had fallen in tobecause she needed to breathe differently. He said, No, no, no.” He is, onceagain, a perfectionist, but very kind. He is divine and VERY generous. He wasdirecting her for the hat shop scene and encouraged her to go crazy and befunny when she is lifting her dress and saying lines such as “the room iscrawling with men.”   

David Michael, Jerry Herman, Karen Morrow, and Keith McNutt from The Actors' Fund

Karen, Bruce Vilanch, Jerry Herman

She told him thenuns told her not to do that! He knows what he desires. He knows what he wrote.She has seen him be kind and flattering to others who maybe didn’t give himwhat he wanted. She has never heard him criticize anyone. They have remained friends and she talks withhim a couple of times a year. They have made a point of staying in touch andhaving dinner from time to time. She remembers a wonderful evening in which sheand Jerry went to see She Loves Me inLA at Reprise. When it was over, he turned to Karen and said, “Isn’t that themost divine musical? It’s the definitive musical.” Karen agreed. There is noone like Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock. Karen and Jerry Herman couldn’t getover what a perfect gem it is. Karen had seen it before but Jerry was so generousin his praise, not only of Sheldon and Bock, but also of the performers.Karen desires to be totally in her assessment of PLAYINGDolly. There are wonderful moments of having that kind of attention on stage.It has nothing to do with the show itself. It has to do with her as an actress.  Jerry Herman writes for the audience. There is no question. He NEEDS thataudience. People like Sondheim don’t need the audience. He needs to write forthe character. Jerry also writes for the character but he really makes itpalpable and accessible and he loves that. He loves to engage the audience andto see them excited and know they’re humming the tunes when they exit thetheater and that to Karen is what she absolutely loves. She loves doing thatand making sure she is reaching out to the audience. With Sondheim, she is notas aware of the audience. She is more locked into the lyrics and the story andthe complete character analysis that Sondheim does within a character. There isno room for “Now I’m going to present myself to the audience.” Jerry leavesmuch room for that. He leaves it entirely to the personality of the personplaying one of his characters and how they appeal to the audience. For Karen,that is such a great gift. He has earned his place alongside Irving Berlin. Hello, Dolly meant the world to her in Jerry Herman’sapproval, him trusting her with Ethel Merman’s Love, Look in My Window. He has had her do it ever since when they’vedone the Jerry Herman concerts. The fact that he thought she could do that andbring something to it that he wanted brought to it. He desired somebody that hecould trust. He put his trust in Karen Morrow with that song and that show.That means the world to her. When Karen mentions Jerry Herman to students nowand they don’t know who he is, she wants to throttle them. They also don’t knowwho Richard Rodgers is. Karen has such love and respect for Jerry Herman andowes him a lot! We also owe a lot to Karen Morrow!     Thank you Karen Morrow for the gifts you have given to the world and 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!


If you have anything to add or share, please contact me at Richard@RichardSkipper.com.


NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.  FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY!



Please do what YOU can to be more aware that words and actions DO HURT...but they can also heal and help!    
                My next blog will be...My exclusive interview with actor Michael DeVries on the 1995 Broadway Revival of Hello, Dolly starring Carol Channing

Thank you, to all the mentioned in this blog!

  Here's to an INCREDIBLE tomorrow for ALL...with NO challenges!


TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED DAYRichard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com                              
This Blog is dedicated to ALL THE DOLLYS and ANYONE who has EVER had a connection with ANY of them on ANY Level!