John Philip Sousa / Hello, Dolly!

On this day in classical music: American composer and bandmaster John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C. in 1854. Sousa became the conductor of the U.S. Marine Band in 1880. The “March King” stayed with the Marine Band for a dozen years before forming his own band. Listen to the U.S. Marine Band perform Sousa’s “The Liberty Bell.” Colonel Michael J. Colburn conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7FD9PNpfpo

On this day in the musical theatre: A revival of Hello Dolly starring Pearl Bailey opened on Broadway in 1975. Producer David Merrick kept “Dolly!” running for years by putting a string of celebrities in the title role. After Carol Channing left the show, Dolly was played by Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller and Ethel Merman. Bailey’s Horace Vandergelder was Cab Calloway. Watch Bailey and cast perform “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and “So Long Dearie” on the 1968 Tony Awards broadcast. Carol Channing introduces the segment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4eS0x16v1k 

Musical musings: You really haven’t seen “Hello, Dolly!” unless you’ve seen it in the production headed by Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway that has now taken over at the St. James. There has never been any doubt of Bailey’s skill as a performer or her ability to project a song. There have been times, however, when faced by a book show, she has been tempted to thrust the book to one side and go ahead with her one-woman act. In “Dolly!” she resists the temptation and really acts the role, playing the part charmingly and humorously. It does seem a shame that the role of Horace Vandergelder, the Yonkers curmudgeon, is not more important, because Calloway plays it with the finest relish. But this is my only quibble. Pearl Bailey and the new “Hello, Dolly!” are a collective delight. – Richard Watts, Jr. in The New York Post

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