Hello, Dolly! facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hello, Dolly!
1964 Broadway poster
Music	Jerry Herman
Lyrics	Jerry Herman
Book	Michael Stewart
Basis	The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
Productions	1964 Broadway 1965 West End 1965–66 Australasia tour 1969 Film 1975 All-black Broadway revival 1978 Broadway revival 1995 Broadway revival 1996 Mexico City 2001 Madrid 2009 West End revival 2017 Broadway revival 2017 Melbourne 2018 US Tour
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony for Composer and Lyricist Tony Award for Best Book Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical

Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart. Based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers (which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955), the musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi (a strong-willed matchmaker), as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so she persuades his niece, his niece's intended, and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York City.

Hello, Dolly! was first produced on Broadway by David Merrick in 1964, winning a record-tying (tied with South Pacific) 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, a record held for 37 years. The show album Hello, Dolly! An Original Cast Recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. The album reached number one on the Billboard album chart on June 6, 1964, and was replaced the next week by Louis Armstrong's album Hello, Dolly!

The show has become one of the most enduring musical theatre hits, with four Broadway revivals and international success. It was also made into the 1969 film Hello Dolly! that was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won three.

Characters

• Dolly Gallagher Levi: A widow in her middle years who has decided to begin her life again. She is a matchmaker, meddler, opportunist, and a life-loving woman.
• Horace Vandergelder: The proprietor of a Hay & Feed store and a client of Dolly Gallagher Levi's. A well-known half-a-millionaire, he is a widower, gruff, authoritative, and set in his ways.
• Cornelius Hackl: Vandergelder's chief clerk who yearns for one exciting day in NYC. Energetic, enthusiastic, and adventurous young man who has a sweet innocence about him.
• Barnaby Tucker: An assistant to Cornelius at Vandergelder's Hay & Feed store. He is sweet, naïve, energetic, and a follower.
• Irene Molloy: A widow and a beautiful, smart, fun-loving milliner with a hat shop in New York. Dolly has introduced her to Horace Vandergelder but she yearns for romance.
• Minnie Fay: A young girl who works in Irene's hat shop. Irene's assistant, she is a naïve, strait-laced, fresh, and a follower.
• Ambrose Kemper: A young and explosive struggling artist seeking to marry Ermengarde.
• Ermengarde: The young niece of Horace Vandergelder. She cries often and wants her independence and wants to marry Ambrose.
• Ernestina Money: An eccentric-looking girl in need of Dolly's matchmaker services.
• Rudolf Reisenweber: Maître d' of the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.
• Judge: A white-whiskered night court judge. Easily moved to tears by romance.
• Mrs. Rose: An old friend of Dolly's.

Characters and original cast

Musical numbers

Images for kids

• 

  David Burns and Carol Channing in the original Broadway cast, 1964

• 

  Milo Boulton and Carol Channing in one of several national tours, 1966

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  Pearl Bailey as Dolly, 1968.

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  2017 Broadway revival at the Shubert Theatre.

See also

In Spanish: Hello, Dolly! para niños