Wow wow wow, fellas!
Look at the old girl now, fellas!
Dolly'll never go away again.
Wow, wow, wow, indeed!!
From Adam Bloodworth in City AM:
Plenty of musicals made in the middle of last century are given glittering revivals, but rarely do they look and feel as contemporary as Dominic Cooke’s adaptation of Hello Dolly!, this year’s most hyped musical.Cooke plunges us into an 1890s New York so richly realised through pops of colour and set pieces that it can feel cartoonish in its eccentricities. Great trolleybuses veer onto the stage, warm colour washes pulsate like club lighting, and the fashion is out of this world. Musicals at the Palladium typically pull out all the stops, but somehow Hello, Dolly! has found new ways of raising the roof.
Indeed, the roof was well-and-truly raised last night, as Madam Arcati, Hils, History Boy and Our Sal went along to see it.
Probably maestro Jerry Herman's most-lauded and enduring work, it's a roller-coaster of ever-moving parts - from energetic dance number to energetic dance number, endless perambulation [brilliantly assisted by the moving conveyor], streetcars, scenery changes and even a steam train!
Packed full of classic and familiar* musical numbers such as Put On Your Sunday Clothes [which has been an earworm for me all weekend], Just Leave Everything to Me, Before the Parade Passes By, (We've Got) Elegance, So Long Dearie, It Takes A Woman, and of course the title number, we knew the show was going to be an "internalised singalong" evening [*apart from the Megababs film, we also saw the Timothy Sheader/Stephen Frears production of the show at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre way back in 2009].
The cast was superb - including Tyrone Huntley as the wide-eyed teen "Barnaby", Harry Hepple (whose solo number It Only Takes a Moment was beautifully done) as "Cornelius Hackl", Jenna Russell as "Irene Molloy", Emily Lane as "Minnie" and Emily Langham as the perpetually-hysterical "Ermengarde".
A particular stand-out number was Miss Russell's ode to seeking pleasure Ribbons Down My Back - we've seen her on stage quite a few times; in Guys and Dolls (opposite Ewan McGregor, back in 2005), Into The Woods, Merrily We Roll Along, and the gala Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends - a Celebration, and she never fails to impress!
Andy Nyman [who we saw in Assassins and Abigail's Party] was great as the cantankerous "Horace Vandergelder" - a self-made man, yet no match for the "matchmaker" herself! His soliloquy on wealth Penny in My Pocket was indeed impressive.
Regardless, it wasn't any of them that the packed-out Palladium audience had come to see. Oh, no - it was Dame Imelda Staunton as "Dolly Levi" whose presence commanded us all...
And, my heavens! She was utterly fantabulosa!
As Kate Kellaway in The Guardian put it:
Staunton’s star quality - she shines in her emerald ballgown like a queen descending the restaurant’s appropriately golden stairs - depends on her miraculous ability to stay genuine and intent, no matter how far-fetched the goings on around her. Naturalness and charm make her a joy to watch. She gives us a Dolly who exults in being herself, yet whose eyes fill with tears whenever she consults her dear departed philanthropist husband...
Amen.
Remarkably for a woman of 68, her pint-size presence dominated the massive stage, and she kept up with every frenetic twirl, march, kick and dance the role demands. Her vocals were the best we've heard her - and we've seen her in some demanding roles, including in Follies, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd - at times poignant (Love, Look in My Window), and at others utterly joyful...
...especially on the triumphal show-stopper Hello Dolly!, the best scene in the whole show, complete with its brilliantly-choreographed (by Bill Deamer) Waiters' Gallup.
We loved absolutely everything about this show! Imelda Staunton certainly is "back where she belongs" - the hottest ticket in town.
Hello Dolly! is only at the London Palladium until 14th September 2024, so if you can, get a ticket before the parade passes by!
