<P> The show has become one of the most enduring musical theatre hits, with four Broadway revivals and international success . It was also made into the 1969 film Hello Dolly! that was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won three . </P> <P> The plot of Hello, Dolly! originated in an 1835 English play, A Day Well Spent by John Oxenford, which Johann Nestroy adapted into the farce Einen Jux will er sich machen (He Will Go on a Spree or He'll Have Himself a Good Time). Thornton Wilder adapted Nestroy's play into his 1938 farcical play The Merchant of Yonkers, a flop which he revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955, expanding the role of Dolly, played by Ruth Gordon . The Matchmaker became a hit and was much revived and made into a 1958 film of the same name starring Shirley Booth . The story of a meddlesome widow who strives to bring romance to several couples and herself in a big city restaurant also features prominently in the 1891 hit musical A Trip to Chinatown . </P> <P> The role of Dolly Levi in the musical was originally written for Ethel Merman, but Merman turned it down, as did Mary Martin (although each eventually played it). Merrick then auditioned Nancy Walker . Eventually, he hired Carol Channing, who then created in Dolly her signature role . Director Gower Champion was not the producer's first choice, as Hal Prince and others (among them Jerome Robbins and Joe Layton) all turned down the job of directing the musical . </P> <P> Hello, Dolly! had rocky out - of - town tryouts in Detroit and Washington, D.C. After receiving the reviews, the creators made major changes to the script and score, including the addition of the song "Before the Parade Passes By". The show was originally entitled Dolly, A Damned Exasperating Woman and Call on Dolly but Merrick changed the title immediately upon hearing Louis Armstrong's version of "Hello, Dolly". The show became one of the most iconic Broadway shows of its era, the latter half of the 1960s, running for 2,844 performances, and was for a time the longest - running musical in Broadway history . During that decade, ten "blockbuster" musicals played over 1,000 performances and three played over 2,000, helping to redefine "success" for the Broadway musical genre . </P>

Who originated the role of dolly in hello dolly