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"Lee Roy Reams has appeared in &amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot; before, as the romantic lead.He has directed &amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot;He&#039;s even co-starred in &amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot; with Carol Channing. Twice.But what he hasn&#039;t done, until now, is appear as Dolly Levi in &amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot;When the Jerry Herman musical runs at Boca Raton&#039;s Wick Theatre Nov. 5-Dec. 6, it will be only the second sanctioned time that a man has played the title character. And it&#039;s a first in the United States.&amp;quot;Danny La Rue did it years ago in England,&amp;quot; Reams says. &amp;quot;But I never saw that show. In England they are accustomed to men playing women&#039;s roles and vice versa.&amp;quot;But like the production with La Rue back in 1982, The Wick had to get permission from Herman, a feat made easier since Reams is friends with the composer, who lives in Miami Beach, and The Wick has recently staged two of his other best-known musicals, &amp;quot;Mame&amp;quot; (with Leslie Uggams) and &amp;quot;La Cage aux Folles&amp;quot; (with Reams).&amp;quot;[Herman] came to see him in &#039;La Cage&#039; and that&#039;s when we started talking about it,&amp;quot; recalls Marilynn A. Wick, managing executive director and founder of The Wick. &amp;quot;It was near the end of &#039;La Cage,&#039; which was so popular, and I asked Lee, &#039;What would you like to do next at The Wick?&#039; And he said, &#039;If I could get Jerry Herman to give permission, I&#039;d like to do &#039;Hello Dolly.&#039; It&#039;s a role I&#039;ve always wanted to do.&#039; &amp;quot;The musical-comedy tells the story of a matchmaker who sweeps into the staid lives of a Yonkers store owner and his staff, as well as two ladies in a New York millinery, and plays Cupid for them, and herself.&amp;quot;Hello, Dolly&amp;quot; was a huge Broadway hit when it debuted in 1964, winning 10 Tony Awards, including one for its star, Carol Channing. Barbra Streisand played Dolly in the 1969 movie version directed by Gene Kelly. Everyone from Ginger Rogers to Mary Martin has played the role on both sides of the Atlantic. Pearl Bailey starred in an all-black version with Cab Calloway and a young Morgan Freeman in 1967 (and returned in 1975).Tony Award nominated Broadway performer Lee Roy Reams will appear as Dolly Levi in &amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot; at the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton Nov. 6-Dec. 6.&amp;quot;I love this show,&amp;quot; Reams says. &amp;quot;It was my second show with Carol Channing. When I was in &#039;Lorelei&#039; with Carol we became close. When they were doing a revival she called me. That voice. She said, &#039;Hello Lee Roy. It&#039;s Carol.&#039; Like I didn&#039;t know. She said, &#039;Look, I want you to play Cornelius Hackl. The director doesn&#039;t know you, so you have to audition. But don&#039;t worry, you got the job.&#039; &amp;quot;He did land the role of Hackl, the secondary romantic lead.&amp;quot;Anyway, that was 1978. And then when she did the last Broadway revival in 1994, she asked me to direct it. And then on the tour she asked me to play Cornelius.&amp;quot;He has directed Uggams, Madeline Kahn, Michele Lee, French star Nicole Croisille and others in the role over the years.&amp;quot;With his talent…and the experience he has doing &#039;Dolly,&#039; you know he&#039;s been in the show forever, I decided to do it.&amp;quot; Wick says. &amp;quot;And then, of course, we got the blessing from Jerry Herman and I was thrilled about that.&amp;quot;Reams adds, &amp;quot;Bringing a male perspective to that character will make it more interesting to me. I&#039;ve told so many ladies how to do it and now I&#039;ll find out if what I said works.&amp;quot;The atmosphere is prime. It&#039;s time. People are no longer being told what they should play. People can play all kinds of roles now, regardless [of] their sexual orientation or ethnicity. I think we&#039;re all more open to that now. And I think Marilynn Wick is so brave to do this.&amp;quot;It&#039;s not like it&#039;s the first time the thought occured to a &amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot; producer.&amp;quot;You know David Merrick, the original producer, wanted Jack Benny to play Dolly and George Burns to play Horace Vandergelder [Dolly&#039;s romantic lead]. They turned him down. Then he wanted Liberace to play Dolly and he turned him down. The idea has always been there. It was just finding the producer brave enough to do it. And we found it, Marilynn Wick.&amp;quot;But he insists that no matter what the sex of the lead, it is the enduring story that is paramount.&amp;quot;The thing that continues to amaze me is how good a show it is,&amp;quot; Reams says. &amp;quot;The music is just perfect and the book is so strong. That money speech is as current now as it was then. That&#039;s when Dolly says, &#039;The surest way to keep us out of harm is to give us the four or five human pleasures that are right in the world... and that takes a little money.&#039;&amp;quot;And then she says, &#039;The difference between a little money and no money at all is enormous, and can shatter the world. And the difference between a little money and an enormous amount of money is very slight, and that can shatter the world too.&#039;&amp;quot;Now tell me that isn&#039;t what everything going on these days in the news is all about?&amp;quot;&amp;quot;Hello, Dolly!&amp;quot; runs through Dec. 6 at the Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $70, $75 and $80. To order, call 561-995-2333 or go to TheWick.org."
<https://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/theater-and-arts/sf-boca-raton-theater-hello-dolly-preview-20151104-story.html>