Hello, Dolly! at the Playhouse

LAURI DONAHUE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

It's easy to see why Hello, Dolly! was a hit when it premièred in 1964, running for a record 10 months on Broadway (until topped by Fiddler on the Roof the following year) and winning an unprecedented 10 Tony Awards (only surpassed by The Producers in 2001). The simple story of lovers, young and old, was a charming and inoffensive exercise in nostalgia, the score was hummable and the show had a super-dynamic leading lady: Carol Channing.

Dolly's genealogy dates back to an obscure 1835 British comedy by John Oxenford, adapted into an 1842 Austrian satire, either or both of which inspired Thornton Wilder to pen The Merchant of Yonkers in 1939 – the year after his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town.

Merchant was a flop, but Wilder loved the material and rewrote it as the far-more-successful play (and later movie) The Matchmaker in 1954. The play's transformation into Dolly! was accomplished by composer/lyricist Jerry Herman (Mame, La Cage aux Folles), with a book by Michael Stewart (Bye, Bye, Birdie, Carnival, 42nd Street) – both men Jewish, by the way – combining the froth of a Viennese farce with down-home American melting-pot values.

Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi is a matchmaker, among other trades, in turn-of-the-last-century New York. While pretending to find a mate for dry goods half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder, she secretly has designs on him herself. Meanwhile, Mr. Vandergelder's clerks, Cornelius and Barnaby, take advantage of his absence to escape in search of adventure – and love – with milliner Irene Molloy and her assistant Minnie.

Herman's melodies are lilting, but his lyrics are less memorable. Surprisingly, Dolly! beat out the more musically sophisticated Funny Girl to give Herman his 1964 Tony as best composer and lyricist.

Unfortunately, the Vancouver Playhouse's production fails to do justice to the score. It's marred by weak singing voices among the leads, and a shrill high soprano in the ensemble numbers. The actors also fail to attempt the accents – Irish and regional New York – that could add depth to the characters.

But if the show is sometimes hard on the ears, it's definitely a treat for the eyes. The set design by John Ferguson and costume design by Nancy Bryant echo one of Dolly's lines about a dried oak leaf, without color and life. When the play opens, even the American flag is rendered in shades of gray. By the end, color has invaded even the drab, no-nonsense world of Vandergelder's store.

Although the stage is rather cramped for a musical of this scale, the choreography by Lisa Stevens makes good use of the space, and especially the stage's turntable. The acrobatics of the waiters in the restaurant scene – from young Matthew Rossoff to veteran Jim Hibbard (who appeared in the 1969 film version of Dolly!) – are impressive, with every stunt perfectly timed and executed.

Standouts among the cast include Jay Brazeau (who won a Jessie Award as Tevye in last year's Playhouse production of Fiddler on the Roof), suitably pompous as Vandergelder, and Alexander Ferguson (delightful in Bard on the Beach's The Comedy of Errors this past summer), who charms as Cornelius with his lightning comic timing and puppy-dog eyes.

However, Susinn McFarlen's performance as Dolly is problematic. The part seems to call out for public chutzpah tempered by private vulnerability. McFarlen plays it with breathless and dizzy optimism that makes the character endearing but perhaps not as strong and engaging as she could be.

But overall, this is a polished and professional production of a much-loved hit and, though it disappoints at times, it still looks as swell as Dolly herself.

Hello Dolly! is at the Vancouver Playhouse to Dec. 13. Tickets are $20 (rush) to $62. Call 604-873-3311 or visit www.vancouverplayhouse.com for more information.

Lauri Donahue is an award-winning playwright and the rebbetzin of Beth Tikvah Congregation in Richmond.

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