For a limited summer season, The London Palladium is home to a new production of Hello, Dolly!. Starring Dame Imelda Staunton, the City Adventurers were keen to check it out. Some of us had seen a previous London production, as well as the film, so how would this production stack up?
Plot
Meddlesome socialite turned matchmaker Dolly Levi travels to Yonkers, New York to find a match for the miserly, unmarried ‘half-a-millionaire’ Horace Vandergelder, but everything changes when she decides that the next match, she needs to make is for herself. During the process, she convinces Vandergelder’s niece, his niece’s intended and his two clerks to travel to New York.
Review
Imelda Staunton is impressive as the motor-mouthed hustler, Dolly Levi. Any thoughts of her as Professor Umbridge are instantly forgotten.
While Barbra Streisand was a young glamorous Dolly and Danny La Rue a flamboyant Dolly, Imelda Staunton’s Dolly is more understated. This makes the character more real. She is still the fast-talking organiser who gets people to do her bidding, but somehow, she seems more believable.
You are immediately drawn into her world as the story begins with Dolly ending the mourning period for her beloved husband and going back to making a living. How does she make a living? By meddling and scheming. A woman who has a business card for every situation. As a fixer, one thing she claims she can fix is finding you a suitable marriage partner. And her first project is finding a wife for Horace Vandergelder.
So everyone heads to New York, where Vandergelder is expecting to meet a potential partner in the shape of milliner Irene Molloy. However, Dolly has plans to introduce Irene and her assistant Minnie to Vandergelder’s put upon clerks, Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker. This will open the way for Dolly to pursue Vandergelder herself.
While a marriage to Vandergelder will not be the love match she had with the former husband, access to his money would allow her to spread the wealth around. A trait her former spouse taught her.
There is also the side story of Vandergelder’s niece and her intended travelling to New York, although, personally, I felt this added little to the plot.
The bustling turn-of the-century set undergoes many astonishingly slick scene changes. It transforms from small apartment to Yonkers warehouse to hat shop to opulent restaurant, complete with sweeping staircase. And in between there are the New York streets. There is a conveyor belt that allows the cast to walk for miles as New York’s buildings and skies move past them on a video backdrop. At one point a steam train even rolls onto stage!
This is a classic family friendly musical. Good singing, good dancing, good fun. Nothing particularly controversial in the story line.
Or is there? Some of the ideas portrayed were reflective of the time they are set but still got a few surprised gasps from the audience. The song “It takes a woman” a case in point. Yes, it is played for laughs that you need a dainty, fragile woman to run the home and the lyrics reflect the humour of that.
Taking of music, anyone who has seen “WALL-E” will recognise the fabulous “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” number that makes you want to sing along.
The eponymous Hello, Dolly! title track appears in the second act with Dolly making her grand return to the Harmonia Gardens. Glamously she descends the giant staircase like the star she is. The enormous cast (36-strong ensemble) perform amazing choreographed pieces reminiscent of a golden age Hollywood musical.
If you fancy a feel-good night at a classic family friendly musical, this is it. Good singing, good dancing, good fun.
Hello, Dolly! is playing until 14th September 2024.
Tickets from just £20 are available from LW Theatres: https://lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/hello-dolly/
Save £10 per person with groups of 6+.
Available to booking online for selected performances: https://ticketing.lwtheatres.co.uk/event/364?PROMO=HELLD6GRP
Save up to £40 per person with groups of 10+.
Groups can be requested here: https://lwtheatres.co.uk/groups/hello-dolly-groups-and-schools/#groups-and-schools-tickets
History
Hello Dolly is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman. The original Broadway show began in 1964 and ran for 2,844 performances. It won 10 Tony Awards out of 11 nominations and its title song, recorded by Louis Armstrong, was a number-one single in 1964. It was made into a film starring stars Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford in 1969.
It was first performed in London’s West End in 1965 and revived in 1979 and in 1983, when it starred Danny La Rue. In 2009 there was an off-West End production performed at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
This is the third West End revival of Hello Dolly! It runs until 14th September 2024 at the London Palladium. This production was originally scheduled to premiere in 2020 but was postponed for four years mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Directed by Dominic Cooke, it stars Dame Imelda Staunton (Dolly), Andy Nyman (Horace), Jenna Russell (Irene), Harry Hepple (Cornelius) and Tyrone Huntley (Barnaby).
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