The opening performance of Hello Dolly at the Civic Theatre was dedicated to the memory of belovéd Broadway icon, Carol Channing, who recently passed at the age of 97. I first saw Channing on The Muppet Show and was delighted by her sparkle and boundless energy. Betty Buckley is well-suited to fit Channing”s feathered hat. Called “The Voice of Broadway” by New York Magazine, Buckley charmed the house with an effervescent joie de vivre.
Hello Dolly is based on Thornton Wilder’s play, The Matchmaker. This brings us to the city of New York in 1885 when streetcars shared the streets with pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages. People of stature dressed for dinner and women in corsets were praying for temperance and demanding the right to vote. The latter they got. The former didn’t work out so well.
The scenic designs by Santo Loquasto evoked the era beautifully with painted backdrops indicative of etchings of the day. I was less enamored with some of the costume choices. While the cut of the coats and dresses was period-perfect, their “Sunday clothes” were bright candy colors like suits of hot pink and chrysanthemum. Feh!
“It takes a woman… to bring the sweet things in life.”
Dolly Gallagher Levi is a professional matchmaker as well as a dance instructor and whatever else needs to be done with a different business card for every occasion. Dolly has one-sided conversations with her late husband Ephraim. A lonely widow, she wants one last chance at love “before the parade passes by.” So she’s on a mission to marry the comfortably set half-millionaire, Mr. Horace Vandergelder of Yonkers.
“99% of the people in this world are fools. And the rest of us are in great danger of contamination.”
Horace Vandergelder is a bitter old curmudgeon with the charm and grace of a donkey with hemorrhoids. His money seems to be his one saving grace, but that one is gracious enough to make him a catch. Lewis J Stadlen plays the humor of his tempestuous rants with just enough of a vulnerable soft-side to keep him interesting. Morgan Kirner, with high-pitched squeals is annoyingly bratty as his sheltered, eligible niece, Ermengarde. In today’s world, Vandergelder wouldn’t be chasing away suitors, he’d be trolling Craig’s List for them.
“If you ain’t got elegance, you can never carry it off.”
Analisa Leaming has a strong set of soprano pipes as the widow Molloy. An independent business woman with a touch of cougar, she’s not looking for love so much as adventure. She finds it in Cornelius Hackl, Vandergelder’s chief clerk played with boyish, bright-eyed charm by Nic Rolleau. Still just a clerk at thirty-two, he’s determined to enjoy a night on the town and finally kiss a girl. Jess LeProtto and Kristen Hahn are both really fun to watch as the two side-kicks, Barnaby and Minnie, making their marks without stealing the show.
Hats off to Choreographer Warren Carlyle and the ensemble. Number after number, they filled the stage in a whirlwind of joyful energy in meticulously calculated chaos.
Hello Dolly is all about finding love, maybe your first or maybe again. So before the parade passes you by, take someone special and hold each other’s hands as you are swept up in a whirlwind of heartfelt laughter.
Republished from San Diego Jewish World