Looking swell
‘Hello, Dolly!’ still going strong
This decade, Broadway producers have chiefly looked for two types of musicals: socially progressive, experimentally minded reinventions of the form such as “Hamilton,” “Fun Home” and the upcoming “Jagged Little Pill” or straight, simple adaptations of straight, simple movies (see “School of
Rock,” “Sister Act” and oh so many Disney properties). In this landscape, “Hello, Dolly!” has somehow thrived.
The original 1964 production swept the Tony Awards with 10 wins including Best Musical (a record that stood for nearly four decades). The revival, which won four Tonys itself and plays at the Citizens Bank Opera House now through Aug. 25, has confirmed “Hello, Dolly!” is timeless. Between Lin-Manuel Miranda and “Aladdin,” the musical pulls equally from classic tropes: vaudevillian slapstick, Shakespearean love triangles, Rodgers and Hammer stein inspired melodies and a collective love for the grand dames of Broadway.
The story takes place in 1890s New York and follows widow and matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi in her quest to land miserly “wellknown unmarried half-amillionaire” Horace Vandergelder for herself while pairing off every minor character that crosses her path. The plot offers no modern twists, the production has old-school Broadway glamour but offers no revelations, and yet the show succeeds on almost every level.
Stage queens of the highest order have always played Dolly: Carol Channing originated the role, Barbara Streisand starred in the movie, Bette Midler powered the revival. While not a household name, Betty Buckley has the resume and talent (she won her own Tony singing “Memory” in “Cats” in 1983) to carry the title role. And moreover, the audience yearns for Buckley and Dolly to carry us through the production — nearly every time Dolly appeared at this week’s press performance, the packed Opera House cheered and hooted.
Some of the show’s success comes from audiences’ reverence for the character and from “Dolly’s” embrace of the universal theme of love’s importance. Most of the lead characters are widows looking for a way out of loneliness. In minor moments of subversion, the lust for riches falls away leaving only a hunger for companionship — Dolly, a compassionate capitalist, says “Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around, encouraging young things to grow.” But the high points don’t come from ideas or the monolith that is Dolly, rather the visceral thrill offered by all great musicals: song, dance and rightly overdone acting.
Analisa Leaming as widow Irene Molloy sings “Ribbons Down My Back,” her painful hymn to attracting a gentleman’s eye, with a wonderful mix of earnestness and irony. Nic Rouleau as bumpkin-turned-adventure-seeker Cornelius Hackl delivers a perfect blend of pratfalls and Golly-GeeWillikers naivete. And the three female leads team up to deliver sardonic, paintby-number patriotism gem “Motherhood” to distract dopey, serious Horace Vandergelder from discovering the shenanigans taking place under his nose.
If you have the chance to see “Hamilton” or “Fun Home” over “Hello, Dolly!” take it. They offer unique accomplishments. But if you want to see the same old thing done as well as it can be, “Dolly” will delight you.
“Hello, Dolly!,” at the Citizens Bank Opera House through Aug. 25. Tickets and info at boston.broadway.com.