HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

★★★★

“Nothing seems out of place in Dominic Cooke’s staging of this revival”

By interval, while slowly making my way through the bottleneck towards the bar, I’m feeling a bit like the child from ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ folk tale. Only the joke is on me, apparently, rather than the other way round. It takes the second act to make me realise this, and my puzzled expression turns to one of realisation, all the while a smile reluctantly spreading across my face. The belated appreciation is inadvertently symptomatic of a musical that is, after all, fundamentally about second chances.

You have to ignore the flimsy plot to get to its heart. On the surface the story follows the celebrated matchmaker, Dolly Levi, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly half-millionaire Horace Vandergelder. It soon becomes clear, though, that Dolly intends to marry Horace herself. We think it’s all about the money, but as the twists unravel, we discover the true threads of the tale. Love is in the air, ultimately, conquering feelings of grief and bereavement as it sweeps through the auditorium in waves of feelgood farce. In the title role, Imelda Staunton gives a fantastically understated performance as she slowly lets go of her late husband’s ghost to find her way back to where she belongs.

Based on Thornton Wilder’s 1930s ‘The Matchmaker’, it premiered in 1963; so there is always the danger that today’s audiences will find it outdated and out of style. Yet it conveys a bygone age that we are willing to be transported back to. Escapism is the key. Rae Smith’s sumptuous sets mix turn of the century realism with animated backdrops; rickety trolleybuses and sandstone buildings with blue skies – into which, at one point, a full-size steam train billows out clouds of steam. Smith’s costumes match the opulence of the production, particularly during the signature scene in which Dolly descends the famous staircase of the Harmonia Gardens restaurant. The title number of ‘Hello Dolly’ builds slowly towards its ovation-grabbing finale. Dancing waiters and chefs epitomise Bill Deamer’s extravagant and flawless choreography. Nothing seems out of place in Dominic Cooke’s staging of this revival, except for a few lines of Michael Stewart’s book. Yet the execution is faultless, and Jerry Herman’s music and lyrics are given full flight, buoyed up by the twenty strong orchestra down in the pit.

Staunton, to her credit, never steals the show in what is pretty much an ensemble piece (that also boasts one of the largest ensembles in London – it has more swings than a holiday camp playground). Andy Nyman’s Horace Vandergelder is a gently mocking Scrooge, extending his derision to himself as much as anyone else. His rebellious employees, Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker (respectively Harry Hepple and the underused Tyrone Huntley) make a fine comedy double act that borders on cliché but thankfully just stops short. The other star turn comes courtesy of Jenna Russell’s Irene Molloy, the milliner who craves to swap her hat shop for a love nest yet is more than twice shy having been bitten by grief too many times.

The songs are not so much old fashioned as old school. Refreshingly nostalgic and timeless. Russell delivers one of the highlights; ‘Ribbons Down My Back’ with an aching hunger while some of the other rousing numbers fill us with joy. Staunton, of course, makes ‘Hello Dolly’ (the song and the show) her own, betraying a unique sense of self-doubt within her layered character. She likes to be in control of everybody’s lives, including her own, but her femininity is never victim to her feminism. There is strength and vulnerability. But also a glorious sense of fun. “It’s no use arguing – I have made up your mind” Dolly says to the redemptive Vandergelder.

There is no arguing with the success of this show either, or the ovation it received. Admittedly the first act drifts a bit, but by curtain call it is well and truly ‘back where it belongs’.

HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

Reviewed on 18th July 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

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HELLO, DOLLY!

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★★★

“the star of the evening is Michaela Stern who beautifully concludes the show”

“There are many lyrics which wouldn’t get past the sensitivity reader these days” quips Nigel Planer before launching into a tongue-in-cheek rendition of Lionel Bart’s ‘Living Doll’. He singles out the line “Gonna lock her up in a trunk…”. When Cliff Richard sang it back in 1959 nobody would have batted an eyelid. When Planer revisited the song with his fellow ‘Young Ones’ for Comic Relief in 1986, he turned the dodginess into plain silliness, ad libbing with “I feel sorry for the elephant”, which became a bit of a catchphrase.

There was more than one elephant in the room at “Celebrating Lionel Bart” – a musical tribute to the great songwriter. Director Adam Lenson, one of many talking heads projected onto the back wall, drew attention to the accusations of antisemitism that Charles Dickens faced after publishing ‘Oliver Twist’ on which Bart based the musical drama ‘Oliver!’. But controversy aside, the evening settled into a light-hearted, nostalgic and gentle homage to the man Andrew Lloyd Webber once described as ‘the father of the modern British musical’.

A handful of songs were interspersed with video projections displaying a few famous faces – Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Anita Harris among them. Mildly informative, they were little more than a garnish; the focus being on the onstage performers. Jos Slovick is first up with the aptly titled ‘A Handful of Songs’, giving a wistful touch to the number with the purity of his voice. Brady Isaacs Pearce delves into ‘What is Love?’ from ‘Oliver!’ with an airy beauty and vulnerability, while Debbie Chazen tackles ‘So Tell Me’ (a lesser-known number from Bart’s ‘Blitz!’) with more character than virtuosity. Nigel Planer has fun with ‘Reviewing the Situation’, but the star of the evening is Michaela Stern who beautifully concludes the show with ‘As Long as He Needs Me’. Stern also gives us another highlight with Bart’s unproduced ‘Nobody in Particular’.

We have a well-balanced cross section of Bart’s repertoire, including his 60s pop hits and his Bond theme, ‘From Russia with Love’. During the latter, Musical Director Theo Jamieson truly shines. The grand piano is the sole accompaniment and Jamieson draws out the different character of each number with an understated flair and intuition. The shades and nuances are matched by the singers’ delivery, but unfortunately are let down with a somewhat flat sound through the in-house sound system. We are never too sure if this lack of sparkle is a reflection, or a cause, of the low energy that pervades the performances.

There are moments of beauty, but the atmosphere is thin, and the songs have little room to breathe fully. A rather damp encore invites the audience to sing along to ‘Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be’. We get a hint of the cheeky chappie that Lionel Bart epitomised. Yet we never get beneath the skin. The show is a polite recital rather than a celebration. Bart was a complicated character. The darling of the sixties who later withdrew from the limelight; bankrupt, diabetic and alcoholic. He never really recovered from ‘Oliver’s!’ success, even though he still managed to stir hearts when he spoke to audiences directly through song. This evening’s showcase of his work doesn’t quite speak to us in the way he might have wanted. Yet it is a faithful rendition and we do get a sense – if not the true scent – of Lionel Bart’s impact on the British musical theatre scene.

HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

★★★★

“Nothing seems out of place in Dominic Cooke’s staging of this revival”

HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

Reviewed on 18th July 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

More reviews from Jonathan:

HELLO, DOLLY!

HELLO, DOLLY!

CELEBRATING LIONEL BART at JW3

★★★

“the star of the evening is Michaela Stern who beautifully concludes the show”

CELEBRATING LIONEL BART at JW3

Reviewed on 7th July 2024

by Jonathan Evans

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CELEBRATING LIONEL BART

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