‘Hello, Dolly!’ still lookin’ swell, but with a man under the feathered hat

“Hello, Dolly!” is still glowin’ and goin’ strong as one of the signature, regularly revived American musicals, but the 1964 show about turn-of-the-century matchmaker Dolly Levi, with songs by Jerry Herman, was sporting something a little different as it awaited its latest opening, Saturday at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton, Fla.

For the first time in the United States, according to executive producer Marilyn Wick, Dolly is being played by a man — veteran Broadway actor Lee Roy Reams, who is also directing the show.

Reams is a longtime friend of composer Herman. Wick said he got the OK to play Dolly from Herman early this year when the composer came to see Reams perform as a man-in-drag in the Florida theater’s production of the Herman-Harvey Fierstein show, “La Cage Aux Folles.”

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Reams would seem to be well-prepared for the part: He was in the cast of the second Broadway revival of “Hello, Dolly!” in 1978, starring Carole Channing, who had originated the role in 1964. Then he directed and choreographed the third and most recent Broadway staging of “Dolly” in 1995, again with Channing.

In 1998 Reams directed and performed opposite Herman in the Broadway revue “A Night With Jerry Herman.”

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Dolly has been played once before by a man, Danny La Rue, in a 1982 production in England.

Reams’ presence under Dolly’s signature flamboyantly feathered hats appears to be going over well. Wick said that demand for tickets at the 333-capacity house has been such that there will be eight performances a week instead of the usual seven, and “it’s soon to be totally sold out.”
“There’s no way I can extend it” beyond the Dec. 6 closing date, she lamented. “I have `Dancing With the Stars’ coming in.”

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