Product Details

• Actors: Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey
• Format: Cast Recording, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: November 28, 2000
• Run Time: 54 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Z4W5
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,041 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Broadway > Musicals

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Originally aired as an ABC-TV special, this 1969 concert brings together the singular voices and personalities of Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey. The two veteran musical comedy stars share the stage with friendly banter and easy choreography, starting off with duets of "A Little Girl from Little Rock" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and "Won't You Come Home?" Bailey delivers a strong "If They Could See Me Now" from Sweet Charity, then softens the mood for "Little Green Apples." Bailey's smooth vocals contrast beautifully with Channing's distinctive warblings, and they use their varying comedic stylings to play off one another. They team up for a medley of show tunes usually sung by male vocalists beginning with a duet of "The Oldest Established (Permanent Floating Crap Game)" from Guys and Dolls. Bailey sings a medley of tunes from The Music Man, giving Robert Preston a run for his money. Channing follows with a dreamy version of "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. Her Dietrich impression, thickly German and fraught with pratfalls, is very funny. Though Channing set the bar for portrayals of the matchmaker Dolly in Hello, Dolly!, Bailey put her own mark on the role and the two actresses perform, in red sequined gowns, the famed title song together.

Because this was a TV special, the production quality isn't very exciting, focusing straightforwardly on the actresses' singing and dancing. Luckily both women are larger than life and fill the small screen with the combined force of their considerable talent. --Dana Van Nest

Product Description

A once in a lifetime live concert, unseen for over 30 years! Carol Channing starred in the original Broadway cast of "Hello Dolly!" opening at the St. James Theatre on January 16, 1964. A few years later, Pearl Bailey played Dolly on that same stage and brought her own magical personality to the role. On March 16, 1969, ABC-TV aired a one-time-only concert on Broadway by these two very special stars. In a memorable medley of great showstoppers that were originally written for men, Carol gets to perform "If I Were a Rich Man" as Tevye, and Pearl sings a medley as "The Music Man." They team up for "The Oldest Established (Permanent Floating Crap Game)" from "Guys and Dolls" and "There is Nothing Like a Dame" from "South Pacific." The show builds to a grand "Hello, Dolly!" finale.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two "Greats", March 2, 2002

By	Matt Howe "outloud98" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This television special works very well. The diversity of its two stars creates a special chemistry. Carol Channing has a rehearsed, Broadway Star appeal, while Pearl Bailey seems very relaxed, as if she's making it up on the spot.

The show is low-concept, which works wonderfully: Put these two entertainers on a Broadway stage in front of an adoring audience ... Have them sing a couple duets ... Let each one have a solo spot ... then bring them back together at the end for a duet of "Hello Dolly".

When I watched this DVD, I was most amazed that I'd never see Pearl Bailey perform before - although I knew her "name" and reputation as an entertainer. And, although Carol Channing is imitated ad nauseum for her funny voice and deer-in-the-headlight-eyes, she is actually a very entertaining performer. I laughed hysterically at her characterization of a silent screen star with a whistling "S". And her version of "If I Were A Rich Man" is very good.

There is also an under-rehearsed, making-it-up-as-we-go-along quality to the special. Pearl Bailey seems like she likes to work without a net and even tries to through Carol Channing with her unscripted asides. All of this lends an authentic show business feeling to the show - as if Carol and Pearl said "Let's put on a show!"

CAROL CHANNING AND PEARL BAILEY ON BROADWAY is an old-fashioned, entertaining television show, guaranteed to entertain. They don't make entertainers like that any more!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hello, Dollies!, December 19, 2000

By	Adam A. Fine "Caretaker of the Arts" (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What a gem! Here's a chance to see what made these two great ladies Broadway queens in the Golden Era of musical theater. Pearl Bailey plays second fiddle here, but her solo sequence is marvelous--earthy and torchy, and as risque as television would allow for the time. But the joy here is Channing, panning Marlene Dietrich and Zero Mostel, and showing why she was, and is, one of the theater's most cherished performers. Best of all is the true live performance these two great ladies deliver--again demonstrating not only why they were such big stars, but also showing us what television had the potential to be. Musical comedy fans, especially you young ones who think theater didn't exist before Les Miserables, must grab this recording for a glimpse into an era regrettably long gone. Sheer heaven.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dolly 1 and 2 at their best, October 25, 2001

By	Rvj Volkers (Amsterdam Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

a unique document on two leading ladies in entertainment, Miss bailey as jazzy as always, and Miss Channing a great comedienne, espaecially in the impersenations of marlene Dietrich, Carmen Miranda and a hilarious Cecilia Cisson.
loevely duets from various shows and of course their own interpretation of Hello Dolly.
Almost forty years old, but it did not loose its strength
a must have for every "entertainment " person!!
two thumbs up