Well Hello, Carol!: Channing Wows Fire Island

Cherry Grove was all abuzz last weekend as Broadway legend Carol Channing performed at the Ice Palace as part of Daniel Nardicio’s ongoing Icon series. Billed as a “conversation,” Justin Vivian Bond joined the 92-year-old legend onstage and barely got out the first question before Channing starting singing, much to the entire crowd’s glee. She went on to perform parts of three songs over the course of the evening, including “Before the Parade Passes By,” “Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend,” and a French song she sang at the Paris wedding of Joan Crawford. Wait, what?! You had to be there, which I wasn’t. The event was star-studded, with celebs like the Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic, Parker Posey, Alan Cumming (who last year started this series by performing with Liza Minnelli), Michael Kors, Matthew Broderick, the Village People’s Randy Jones, and Tommy Tune, who starred with Channing in Hello, Dolly. And despite her age, Channing held court for nearly an hour and a half. As she got up to take her final bows, musical director Lance Horne played some Dolly exit music and the whole audience started singing her trademark song back to her, with some revisions: “Well Hello Carol / You’re looking swell Carol / It’s so nice to see you back where you belong!” Could you just DIE!? (via Broadway World)