Hello, Dolly!
Seen at the London Palladium with Imelda Staunton
The Dame rules! As the curtain rises, the audience swells with love for Imelda Staunton, and her performance really is the best thing in the show. The self-appointed jack -of-all-trades socialite turned matchmaker Dolly Levi meddles in everyone’s life to find a match for the miserly, unmarried ‘half-a-millionaire’ Horace Vandergelder. Several nominees later, and more unhappy singletons encouraged together, she decides that the next match she needs to make is for herself.
With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, the show includes the classics ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’, ‘Before the Parade Passes By’, ‘It Only Takes a Moment’ and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ There is weakness in the balance of the book by Michael Stewart. Ninety percent of the story and the best songs come in the first half. The second includes a lot of filler material. I was disappointed at the extended waiters’ dance: there is only a certain amount the boys can do featuring silver trays and ice-buckets, and they did it over and again. If he wanted to include all the music, I would have hoped Director Dominic Cooke and Choreographer Bill Deamer could have been more inventive, but it is lifted by some nifty comic breaks. It is the movement in the show that limits it – so much walking on the travelator then marching round the stage became repetitive. It really is a long way from Yonkers to New York.
Andy Nyman makes Horace Vandergelder a loveable rogue and relishes opening the second half with a knowing explanation of how he got rich.
Smooth and subtle Harry Hepple as ambitious Cornelius Hackl leads his deputy into adventure and Jenna Russell as Irene Molloy delicately balances desperation and hope as they meet. Tyrone Huntley’s Barnaby Tucker is a bright, ridiculous ingenue whilst Emily Lane delightfully makes Minnie Fay his straight-talking would-be worldly wise potential partner. There is some beautifully executed farce in the hat shop.
Jodie Jacobs as Ernestina steals her scenes as a hilarious blubbering wreck.
It’s all to a high standard, and looks and sounds impressive, but the show itself has limits. Imelda Staunton is imperious, funny, poignant and powerful, so if you want to see a Dame at the top of her game, get to the Palladium before the parade passes by.
Derek Benfield