London "Hello, Dolly!" Finally Out on CD

After a four-decade wait, Arkiv Music just released a CD version of the original London cast of Hello, Dolly!, featuring Mary Martin. Until the August 5 CD release, the show had been preserved only on a 1965 LP, marketed briefly in 1966 in the U.S. and unavailable since.

Dolly! arrived in London two years after its smash Broadway opening, with New York director/choreographer Gower Champion repeating in both jobs. The production at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane ran 794 performances. And as in the States, the show remains popular. A U.K. tour is under way now.

There are two interesting side notes on the London production. Ironically, Martin turned down the chance to play Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi on Broadway, a role that gave Carol Channing a Best Actress Tony. The leading male role, Horace Vandergelder, was played by American actor Loring Smith. He originated the same role in the 1955 Thornton Wilder play The Matchmaker, which inspired Hello, Dolly!

Image courtesy RCA