BOOTLEG FILES 825: The TV Cubana Version of “Hello, Dolly!” (1985 Cuban television recording of the Havana theatrical staging of the Broadway musical).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Rights clearance issues and a perceived lack of commercial viability.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.
One of the most polarizing films ever made was, oddly, the 1969 musical “Hello, Dolly!” This is not a film that inspires indifference – either you embrace as a grand, old-school screen musical with Barbra Streisand giving one of her best performances or you condemn it as an over-produced mess burdened by a star who was much too young for her role. And if you should ever stumble over a Facebook forum debate on the film’s merits and deficiencies, prepare yourself for one of the most rancorous discussions on social media – trust me, I’ve been audience to several of them!
Personally, I would have imagined that “Hello, Dolly!” would be a prime candidate for one of those live musical productions that the U.S. television broadcast networks occasionally stage. After all, if we can have made-for-TV versions of “The Sound of Music,” “Grease,” “The Wiz” and “Rent,” then “Hello, Dolly!” should be a shoo-in for the small screen treatment.
But while the U.S. networks refrained from making their own version of this musical comedy classic, there was an under-the-radar made-for-TV version of the show. Indeed, this production took the concept of “under-the-radar” to a new level: TV Cubana, a Cuban network, presented a recorded version of the 1985 Teatro Karl Marx de Habana production of “Hello, Dolly!” Indeed, the Havana-based production is so obscure that it is not included in the “Call On Dolly!” website that offers a comprehensive overview of the many stage versions of this show.
Whether TV Cubana network had permission from the rights owners of “Hello, Dolly!” to do a broadcast version of the property is unclear – I am doubtful, though I would welcome clarification from any reader who might have more insight on this production than I possess.
The Dolly for this production was Rosita Fornés, a New York City-born entertainer who was active in Cuba before and after the Castro revolution. Fornés was 62 years old when she played Dolly at the Teatro Karl Marx, which is Havana’s biggest theater, and then played the role again at El Teatro Principal in the Cuban city of Camagüey. Since Broadway musicals were rarely staged in Cuba during the 1980s, “Hello, Dolly!” was a major cultural event back in its time – and Fornés played the part as if it was a role of a lifetime.
However, this production seems to be heavily influenced by the 1969 film, which differs in certain aspects from the stage show. In this Cuban version, the show opens with “Just Leave Everything to Me,” the song that opens the film, rather than “I Put My Hand In,” the opening number for the stage show. The Cuban production also stages “It Only Takes a Moment” in an outdoor setting rather than in the stage show’s courtroom environment, and the stage “The Motherhood March” that was omitted from the film is also omitted here; the video uploaded to YouTube is missing “Before the Parade Passes By,” which I assume was an error by the person sharing the recording.
Plus, Fornés’ performance of the title song borrows more than a little from Streisand’s vocalizing riffs. To her credit, Fornés eschews the stage version’s red gown and the film’s gold gown for Dolly’s entrance at the Harmonium Gardens in favor of a frilly black gown – yes, she is the sexiest black-clad widow in the Caribbean’s version of 1890s New York City.
For the most part, this “Hello, Dolly!” – which is identified in the opening credits as “Hello Dolly” – comes across as a pleasant but low-rent production, not unlike something that you would see in a small regional theater. Painted backdrops are used in lieu of elaborate sets, the choreography is spry but not elaborate, and the performances come with a surplus amount of sincerity and goodwill – particularly the diminutive Jorge Luis Espinosa as Barnaby, who allows himself to be carried around and even slapped on the rear by Omar Valdes’ Horace Vandergelder. And the train taking the cast to New York at the end of “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” is a cleverly designed large and fanciful cardboard train with a billowing white puff coming from its smokestack.
For the video production, I get the impression that the songs were pre-recorded and lip-synced – the sound has a recording studio quality and not a live presentation quality. The production was also done without a live audience in attendance, hence the show’s musical numbers and humor are delivered to silent response.
As for Fornés, she is sexy and funny as the scheming Dolly. It is a shame she is mostly unknown to Anglophonic audiences, as she was a remarkable talent.
The Cuban “Hello, Dolly!” can be seen in a two-part upload to YouTube. It is not subtitled, but Yanquis who don’t speak Spanish yet know the show will have no trouble following along.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.
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