The newest stars of the Tony-winning revival of Hello, Dolly!, Bernadette Peters and Victor Garber, visited Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live to talk about their returns to Broadway.
Peters took over the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi from fellow Tony winner Bette Midler, and Garber stepped in for David Hyde Pierce as Horace Vandergelder. Peters revealed that when she accepted the role, Midler passed on her research. “She had this books of research, the different scripts and where it came from.”
As for Garber, he never spoke to Pierce about the role directly, but he does recall seeing the show. “We're very close friends, so I went to see him and I went backstage,” said Garber. “He just embraced me and said this will be such a great thing for you to do and he came to see it the other night.”
Read: THE 7 BERNADETTE PETERS SONGS YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
The duo also discussed working on the TV adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella; Peters and Garber played the Evil Stepmother and King, respectively, in the Whitney Houston and Brandy Norwood-led musical.
Speaking of past work, Peters was asked to rate the NBC series Smash, in which she played Leigh Conroy, mother to Megan Hilty's Ivy Lynn. See what she rated the two-season show below:
Cohen also played a game with the pair telling them to say “Hello, Dolly” or “So Long, Dearie” for acceptable and unacceptable theatre behaviors, respectively. From entrance applause to texting, study up on what's fair game, according to the stars.
Peters and Garber joined Hello, Dolly! on January 20. The stars celebrated a “second opening” February 22 at Sardi’s to mark the occasion. Peters was last seen on Broadway in Follies as Sally after replacing Catherine Zeta Jones as Desiree Armfeldt in the 2009 revival of A Little Night Music. She is a two-time Tony Award winner for Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun and received the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award in 2012. Garber was last seen on Broadway in the 2010 revival of Present Laughter as Garry Essendine. He is a four-time Tony nominee for his performances in Deathtrap, Little Me, Lend Me a Tenor, and Damn Yankees.
