Producer Scott Rudin announced on June 6 that Carolee Carmello will step into the iconic role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in the second year of the highly acclaimed national tour of Hello, Dolly!, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Revival, beginning September 24, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri at the Starlight Theatre.
Ms. Carmello takes over the role from Tony Award winner Betty Buckley and joins the astonishing list of show business luminaries who have inhabited the role, including Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Betty Grable, Martha Raye, Ginger Rogers, Ethel Merman, in her last appearance on Broadway, Mary Martin, who led the West End company, and most recently in this celebrated new production, Bette Midler, Donna Murphy, and Bernadette Peters.
Led by four-time Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle, the entire creative team of the Broadway production reprises their roles for the national tour of Hello, Dolly!, including four-time Tony Award winnerSanto Loquasto (Scenic & Costume Design), six-time Tony Award winner Natasha Katz (Lighting Design), Tony Award winner Scott Lehrer (Sound Design), Andy Einhorn (Music Supervisor), Tony Award winnerLarry Hochman (Orchestrations), Tony Award winnerDon Pippin (Vocal Arrangements), David Chase (Dance Arrangements), and Telsey + Company (Casting).
This production of Michael Stewart’s and Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly!, is the winner of four 2017 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and had audiences rushing to see the “historic event” (Rolling Stone) on Broadway that had left “tears on the cheeks of critics” (The Washington Post).
Hello, Dolly! began performances on Broadway on March 15, 2017, and officially opened on April 20, 2017. Having broken the record for best first day of ticket sales in Broadway history, the box office record at the Shubert Theatre twelve times, and shattering The Shubert Organization’s all-time record ten times, this production ended its historic Broadway run on August 25, 2018.
Current stops for Hello, Dolly! in the 2019-2020 season include:
- St. Louis, MO (Fabulous Fox Theatre): Oct 1-13
- Oklahoma City, OK (Civic Center Music Hall): Oct 15-20
- Tucson, AZ (Centennial Hall): Oct 22-27
- Hartford, CT (The Bushnell): Nov 12-17
- Detroit, MI (Fisher Theatre): Nov 19-Dec 1
- Cincinnati, OH (Aronoff Center): Dec 3-15
- Memphis, TN (Orpheum Theatre): Dec 17-22
- Houston, TX (Hobby Center): Jan 7-12
- Fort Worth, TX (Bass Performance Hall): Jan 14-19
- Austin, TX (Bass Concert Hall): Jan 21-26
- Naples, FL (Hayes Hall): Feb 4-9
- Atlanta, GA (The Fox Theatre): Feb 11-16
- Philadelphia, PA (Academy of Music): Feb 18-Mar 1
- Providence, RI (PPAC): Mar 3-8
- Buffalo, NY (Shea’s Buffalo Theatre): Mar 10-15
- Rochester, NY (Auditorium Theatre): Mar 17-22
- Toronto, ON (Princess of Wales Theatre): Mar 2-May 3
- Schenectady, NY (Proctors Theatre): May 5-10
Additional stops may be announced at a later date.
CAROLEE CARMELLO (Dolly Gallagher Levi) has appeared in 14 Broadway musicals and is a three-time Tony Award nominee for her performances in Parade, Lestat, and Scandalous. She recently completed a year-long run as Mrs. Lovett in the critically-acclaimed Sweeney Todd at New York’s Barrow Street Theatre. Additional Broadway roles include Mae Tuck in Tuck Everlasting; Mrs. du Maurier in Finding Neverland (Drama Desk Award nomination); Mother Superior in Sister Act; Alice Beineke in The Addams Family (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations); Donna in Mamma Mia!; Ms. Pennywise in Urinetown; Kate in Kiss Me, Kate; Marguerite in The Scarlet Pimpernel; Abigail Adams in 1776; Cordelia in Falsettos; and Oolie in City of Angels. Off-Broadway credits include John & Jen, Das Barbecü, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Hello Again (Obie Award), A Class Act, The Vagina Monologues, and Elegies. Television credits include “The Deuce,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Good Fight,” “Madam Secretary,” “Smash,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Frasier,” “Ed,” and “Remember W.E.N.N.” (SAG Award nomination). Ms. Carmello was nominated for an Indie Series Award for Best Supporting Actress in the award-winning webseries “Indoor Boys.” Her concert appearances have taken her across America and Europe, including engagements at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, and Carnegie Hall.