Thinking back on some of the stand-out critical notices relating to some of the big opening nights in theatre history, one of my favourites is Walter Kerr in The Herald Tribune on the opening night of Hello Dolly in 1964: “Don’t bother holding on your hats… you’ll only be throwing them into the air!” – I may be paraphrasing here, but you get the picture. A big night, with a big show, fronted by a big star – that’s the secret of Hello Dolly. Over the years, it’s been synonymous with the likes of Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Phyllis Diller, Ethel Merman, and, the Dolly of them all, Carol Channing. And now there’s a new star to add to this dolly mix – Imelda Staunton.
There aren’t many shows that you look forward to for five years, but Imelda Staunton was announced as the new Dolly last decade, with the big show set to take place at the Savoy Theatre (if I remember rightly) in the summer of 2020. But we all remember what happened in the summer of 2020, when politicians partied whilst the rest of us lived in isolation. Plans for joyous events like a revival of Hello Dolly obviously had to be shelved. Fortunately, you can’t keep a good Dolly down and in 2024 it’s finally come to fruition on the glorious stage of the London Palladium.
It’s a simple story of simple folk; curmudgeonly half-millionaire (we are talking about a long time ago) Horace Vandergelder has engaged the services of matchmaker Dolly Levi to find him a wife. Horace runs a Hay and Seed merchants, where his underlings Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker have no lives of their own and no time to themselves. But one day, Horace must go to New York to meet a potential new wife, and Cornelius and Barnaby decide to shut up the shop and go to New York for an adventure of their own. Dolly also has plans up her sleeves – engineer it so that she marries Horace, and if Cornelius and Barnaby can also meet and fall in love with a couple of New York girls, that would be a day well spent. Rest assured, it’s a happy ending with four weddings in the finale!
Hello Dolly benefits from a – largely – superb score by Jerry Herman and a surprisingly funny book by Michael Stewart; no wonder that original Broadway run lasted for 2,844 performances. As well as the memorable title theme, you’ve got the stirring Before the Parade Passes By and Put On Your Sunday Clothes, the witty It Takes a Woman, Elegance and So Long Dearie, the emotional It Only Takes a Moment and Ribbons Down My Back – and the irrepressible Waiters Gallop. The only song that strikes me as being completely outdated and probably worth skipping is Dancing, where Cornelius discovers, lo and behold, that he can dance. Ten years earlier, Salad Days did it better with Look at Me (I’m Dancing). There’s only so far you can indulge that whimsy.
As I was watching the performance of Ribbons Down My Back, I remembered how much I hated that song when I was younger; slow, ponderous and thoroughly boring, I thought. I hear it now and I relish in its gorgeous swapping from minor to major and its subtle lyrics that tell you so much about the character of Irene without making it obvious. Sometimes musical theatre is wasted on the young! That use of a song, to get deeply into a characterisation, is also beautifully realised in Before the Parade Passes By, which is where Dolly realises this is probably her one last chance to return to the world of the living; and – more frivolously – It Takes a Woman, which tells us so much about Horace’s misogyny and thorough laziness!
You already knew that the London Palladium is a massive stage, and you need huge sets to make the maximum impact. Rae Smith’s design is pretty successful on this count; I really admired the use of the streetcar in Before the Parade, giving a wonderful sense of movement on the stage, and the vital sweeping staircase at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant is tasteful and stylish rather than gaudy and glitzy. And that is the watchword for the whole production; taste and style predominate over the brash and brazen. And that’s very suitable for our new Dolly, Imelda Staunton, who is a pint-sized powerhouse rather than a domineering, in-your-face life force like Carol Channing. This production feels very slightly toned down to accommodate Ms Staunton’s interpretation of the role; much more toned down than Ms Channing, but then even Brian Blessed is more toned down than her.
This thoughtful, realistic Dolly comes to the fore most clearly in the famous restaurant/Hello Dolly scene halfway through the second act. Previous Dollies have relished the thought of performing the big number, and come out on stage, all guns blazing, ready to deliver a rip-roaring good time. Ms Staunton pares the performance back, to bring out all Dolly’s insecurities about returning to a place where she had such good times in the past – but it’s been so long now, she’s lost her confidence and her stride, and she doesn’t even know if they’ll be happy to see her again. So at least the first half of this scene concentrates on exposing her fears and gradually seeing her return to her usual self as she realises she’s been accepted back. It’s a very bold way of performing this song, but completely in keeping with the book and the characterisation.
I have one little cavil about this production: the stage movement and choreography relies too heavily on using the revolving stage to present characters walking purposefully from one side of the stage to the other, only to pause, so that they return to where they were before and then resume walking. It works brilliantly at first, but then it gets tedious; and by the time they were still using it in So Long Dearie, it was really annoying me! Less is more!
One thing you can certainly say about this production is that it sounds stunning throughout. Nicholas Skilbeck’s 21-piece orchestra produces exquisite arrangements and performances that fill the auditorium and make your toes curl with pleasure. And everyone’s voices, from Ms Staunton down to the members of the ensemble, are pitch-perfect and harmonise with genuine beauty. Jenna Russell can always be relied upon to deliver a superb performance, and here she gives us a playfully spirited Irene, ready – like Dolly – to take an unexpected leap into the unknown. Harry Hepple is another excellent song and dance man who brings enthusiasm and excitement to the role of Cornelius, leading the terrific Elegance quartet and delivering a powerful It Only Takes a Moment. There’s excellent support with great comedic performances by Tyrone Huntley as Barnaby and Emily Lane as Minnie, and Emily Langham steals every scene with her bawling performance as the eternally miserable Ermengarde.
Andy Nyman gives us a rather likeable Horace Vandergelder. In fact, I wondered if he could be more of a misery-guts and more terrifying to his staff. You get the feeling that Mr Nyman is so completely delighted to be performing this role at the Palladium that he forgets to be grumpy! When he finally becomes bowled over by Dolly’s charms, no one is the slightest bit surprised. And the cast is led by the brilliant Imelda Staunton, using every breath of her stunning voice to full effect, emphasising the comedic way in which Dolly wraps everyone around her little finger to do precisely what she wants them to do, but also tapping into the character’s uncertainties and internal monologues to give us a Dolly with depth, more than just the traditional glamorous showgirl.
A great night’s entertainment which sends you home with the warm glow of Feelgood Factor 50! It’s on at the Palladium until 14th September.
Five Alive, Let Theatre Thrive!