(Gene Kelly, US 1969, 146 min., DCP)
Barbra Streisand parlayed her Academy Award-winning performance as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl into taking over the lead role of the successful Broadway show of Hello, Dolly! for the film the following year. Taking place over one day and night in 1890 Yonkers and Manhattan, the film follows several romantic relationships, all with a connection to matchmaker Dolly Levi (Streisand). Dolly leaves her office in New York to visit Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau), a prominent shopkeeper in Yonkers, under the alleged purpose of matching him with a wife, while secretly hoping Horace will choose her. Meanwhile, Horace’s niece, Ermengarde (Joyce Ames) is prevented from marrying beau Ambrose (Tommy Tune) because he has no stable future. When Horace leaves for his date, shopkeeps Cornelius and Barnaby (Michael Crawford and Danny Lockin) decide to deliberately sabotage the shop to explore some of their own freedom. Everyone ends up at the Harmonia Gardens for an unforgettable dinner where, Dolly hopes, everything will be resolved. Featuring songs by Jerry Herman, including the title track, “Put On Your Sunday Clothes,” and “Before the Parade Passes By,” Herman also wrote “Just Leave Everything to Me” specially for Streisand and this film.
This series is community sponsored by The Louis S. Wolk JCC of Greater Rochester.
