This is one of the funniest things I have read in a long LONG time.
First of all – in the beginning, Carol won’t let anyone get a word in edgewise. The beginning of the interview is HYSTERICAL. hahahaha She just keeps talking!!
Then later – all she does in interject these little one-liners …
Tovah Feldshuh (I adore her) says, “And Mary Martin played it–”
Channing interjects: “Without a laugh in it.”
Then – the comments on the film version of Dolly:
Feldshuh says, “It was a disaster.”
Channing says, “They’re still trying to make enough money to tear the sets down.”
I’d love to see Tovah Feldshuh in this part. I bet she kicks some butt!!
/I am Thornton Wilder./
/You are Thornton Wilder?/
I’m howling! Then Channing just keeps on talking, blah, blah and then it looks like this:
Q Huh.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
And then:
/She has that nice Irish twang./
/She’s got a New York accent. She can’t stop shouting./
So I love how they’re nicely arguing about Dolly’s origins, about how to play her. And that right after Channing’s just said, “Tovah’s got to have her own viewpoint,” she still goes on to sort of push the Jewish angle.
The whole thing is hysterical. I’ve always been a fan of Tovah Feldshuh’s. I’d love to see it, too.
The Thornton Wilder bit cracked me up too.
I mean … you just can’t argue with the 187 year old woman who’s been playing the part since medieval times!
Although, Feldshuh DID say she researched diverse source material including “commedia dell’arte.”
Could the warty masks be far behind, Sheila?
Maybe – not being that into theater myself – I’m being a little bit prejudiced here, but my “bat-guano crazy” alarm kinda went off when Channing started singing and Would. Not. Stop. (for three whole questions). And then again with the Thornton Wilder thing.
I mean, I love her – she cracks me up – and it amazes me that she’s still around….but sometimes, it might help just a wee bit to have a “handler” when interview time comes around. (Not unlike the Liz Taylor on Larry King thing of a few weeks back.)
She’s Carol Channing through and through – I love how she spends ten minutes commiserating with Tovah on the demands of the role and then does this:
FELDSHUH … But eight performances a week is really
CHANNING It’s inhuman. It’s superhuman.
Q Luckily, the Paper Mill production is a limited run.
CHANNING What? No!
Bwahahahahah!
hahahaha I know!
She’s just all RESPONSE! Hysterical.