Mary Martin "HELLO DOLLY" Jerry Herman / Gower Champion 1965 Tokyo Japan Program

Description

This is a rare souvenir program from the three-week engagement of the JERRY HERMAN and MICHAEL STEWART musical comedy hit "HELLO, DOLLY!" starring MARY MARTIN at the Takarazuka Theatre in Tokyo, Japan beginning September 9th, 1965 .....
Beginning in April of 1965, MARY MARTIN crisscrossed the U.S. and Canada in "Hello, Dolly!" for five months before taking the show across the Pacific. The production played briefly in Hawaii and the war zone in South Vietnam before touring U.S. military installations in Japan. Martin then flew to London and opened the West End production on December 2nd, 1965 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. (The Original Broadway production opened January 16th, 1964 at the St. James Theatre in New York City and ran for 2844 performances while simultaneously playing on the road.) ..... During the exceptionally long Broadway run, nine different actresses played the role of "Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi", created by the legendary CAROL CHANNING. Her first replacement was GINGER ROGERS (1965) followed by MARTHA RAYE (1967), BETTY GRABLE (1967), BIBI OSTERWALD (1967), PEARL BAILEY (1967), THELMA CARPENTER (1969), PHYLLIS DILLER (1969) and finally ETHEL MERMAN (1970). Several prominent actresses took the show on the road including MARY MARTIN, BETTY GRABLE, GINGER ROGERS, DOROTHY LAMOUR, EVE ARDEN and YVONNE DE CARLO ..... The Okinawa engagement starred MARY MARTIN as "Mrs. Dolly Levi Gallagher" and featured LORING SMITH, MARILYNN LOVELL, COCO RAMIREZ, JOHNNY BEECHER, BEVERLEE WEIR, MARK ALDEN, ROBERT HOCKNELL, JUDITH DRAKE, SKEDGE MILLER and CARLETON CARPENTER ..... CREDITS: Music and Lyrics by JERRY HERMAN ("Milk and Honey", "Mame", "Mack and Mabel", "La Cage Aux Folles" and "Dear World"); Book by MICHAEL STEWART based on the "Matchmaker" by THORNTON WILDER; Sets designed by OLIVER SMITH; Costumes designed by FREDDY WITTOP; Directed and Choreographed by GOWER CHAMPION; Produced by the TOHO COMPANY in cooperation with THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE and THE AMERICAN EMBASSY by arrangement with DAVID MERRICK ..... DETAILS: The oversized 44 page program measures 10" X 9 3/4" inches and includes full production credits, cast list, synopsis of scenes, list of musical numbers, promotional text, individual photos and bios of each of the leading members of the cast and creative team and several production photos of scenes from the musical. Most of the text is in both English and Japanese .....
PLEASE NOTE: The scanned pages have been cropped due to the limitations of my scanner. The margins are slightly deeper than shown
..... CONDITION: With the exception of light creasing, this rare program is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any musical theatre aficionado or historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.