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April 20, 2012
A fun, energetic show
Hello, Dolly! is worth the drive to New West.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Dolly Gallagher Levi has “always been a woman who arranges things / For the pleasure and the profit it derives.” She has “always been a woman who arranges things / Like furniture and daffodils and lives.”
In Royal City Musical Theatre’s Hello, Dolly!, Colleen Winton makes her own the role of the well-known matchmaker who was played by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production in 1964 and Barbra Streisand in the 1969 film. Wisely choosing not to imitate either of these leading ladies, Winton’s Dolly seems more sophisticated. Winton sings and acts the role with ease, moving realistically from playfulness when singing her opening number, “I Put My Hand In,” quoted above, to touching without being overly sentimental in her rendition of “Before the Parade Passes By.”
While Dolly makes a living out of cheerfully meddling in other people’s lives, she is also a woman mourning the death of her husband, Ephraim Levi, to whom she still speaks and to whose advice she still listens. In “Before the Parade Passes By,” however, she declares her determination to move on, the inspiration for her renewed drive being the prospect of marrying the “half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder, a widower she is pretending to fix up with other women, all the while tricking him into falling in love with her.
David Adams, who last year as part of the Chutzpah! Festival played 86-year-old widower Mr. Green in Jeff Baron’s play Visiting Mr. Green, takes on the much-younger role of Horace. He plays his first scene loudly relative to Winton’s entrance, but, as the musical progresses, he tones down his portrayal, nicely matching the effect that Dolly is having on Horace. (As an aside, Adams will be taking on the role of Tevye in a December 2012 Gateway Theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof. When interviewed by the Jewish Independent for a Jan. 28, 2011, article about Visiting Mr. Green, Adams said the role was on his “bucket list.” It will be great to see him in a role that will allow him to sing more!)
Other strong performances in Hello, Dolly! come from Dustin Freeland as Cornelius Hackl and Sayer Roberts as Barnaby Tucker, who are wonderfully comedic and adorable as the naive, exploited employees of Horace, who, of course, find love on their day in New York (which they have to take through devious means, as Horace is not the day-off-giving type of boss).
Kayla Dunbar as Minnie Faye, Mrs. (Irene) Molloy’s faithful, young, gossipy employee who ends up with Barnaby, is fabulously acted, and Caitlin Clugston delivers a fine performance as Mrs. Molloy, who ends up with Cornelius.
The choreography and direction by Valerie Easton is fun, energetic and challenging, from multiple couples dancing the polka to acrobatic waiters tossing plates – and each other – about. The large ensemble would have benefited from a larger stage, but the number of dancers (who were also called upon to move sets, which they did elegantly) added largesse to the whole production.
The costumes by Chris Sinosich were magnificent, evoking the almost-well to do society of New York City and Yonkers in the 1890s. Between the ensemble and leads, there were countless costume changes and, when Dolly appears, bejeweled in a stunning red gown with red gloves to match, at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, she is certainly the centre of attention for the musical’s most memorable song and dance number, “Hello, Dolly.”
The set design by Omanie Elias also deserves a call-out, and musical director James Bryson and the orchestra do a fantastic job.
Hello, Dolly! runs until April 28 at the Massey Theatre, 735 Eighth Ave., in New Westminster. Tickets are $20-$39 and can be purchased at masseytheatre.com or 604-521-5050.
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