Theater News

David Hyde Pierce to Join Bette Midler in Broadway's Hello, Dolly!

Pierce and Midler will return to the stage in 2017.

David Hyde Pierce will join Bette Midler in Broadway's Hello, Dolly!
David Hyde Pierce will join Bette Midler in Broadway's Hello, Dolly!
(© David Gordon)

Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce will star alongside Bette Midler in the upcoming Broadway revival of Michael Stewart's and Jerry Herman's musical Hello, Dolly! Directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, the revival will begin previews at the Shubert Theatre on March 15, 2017, with an official opening night set for April 20, 2017.

Pierce is expected to take on the role of Horace Vandergelder, opposite Midler's Dolly Levi.

The news was announced through the following mock-up of the Shubert marquee.

A mockup of the Shubert Theatre marquee for Hello, Dolly!
A mockup of the Shubert Theatre marquee for Hello, Dolly!
(photo courtesy of DKC/O&M)

Midler was most recently seen on Broadway in John Logan's solo play I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers in which she played the legendary Hollywood agent of the play's subtitle. Pierce, best known for his role as Niles Crane on Frasier, received his Tony Award for Curtains.

Based on Thornton Wilder's farce The Matchmaker, Hello, Dolly! first premiered on Broadway in 1964, starring Carol Channing in the title role. The most recent revival, in 1995, starred Channing in a return appearance. In addition to Channing, the role has been played by Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Betty Grable, Martha Raye, Ginger Rogers, Ethel Merman (in her last appearance on Broadway), and Mary Martin, who led the West End company.

Additional casting will be announced in the coming months.