EXCLUSIVE: The Crown’s Imelda Staunton will still star as matchmaker Dolly Levi in musical Hello, Dolly! in London’s West End, but fans will have to wait until the summer of 2024.The actress will make her first appearance as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix drama The Crown on November 9.Fall TV Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & StreamingShe signed on to play Dolly in Jerry Herman’s famous show back in 2019.
Originally planned to open in 2020, it was delayed by both the pandemic and the star’s workload on Season 5 of The Crown. Hello, Dolly!
was pushed back to 2022, then delayed again until 2023 upon Staunton’s ascension to a second season of portraying Queen Elizabeth, who died September 8.However, with filming on the sixth season set to continue until at least June, it was felt that it would not leave Hello, Dolly!
director Dominic Cooke (The Courier) enough time to rehearse his company and have the show up and running for its limited run.Staunton has confirmed to Deadline that she will “definitely” star as Dolly in 2024.
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