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1930s ‘The Matchmaker’, it premiered in 1963; so there is always the danger that today’s audiences will find it outdated and out of style.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

More reviews from Jonathan:

CELEBRATING LIONEL BART | ★★★ | JW3 | July 2024

NEXT TO NORMAL | ★★★★★ | Wyndham’s Theatre | June 2024

THE MARILYN CONSPIRACY | ★★★★ | Park Theatre | June 2024

KISS ME, KATE | ★★★★ | Barbican | June 2024

THREE MEN IN A BOAT | ★★★ | The Mill at Sonning | June 2024

GIFFORDS CIRCUS – AVALON | ★★★★ | Chiswick House & Gardens | June 2024

MARIE CURIE | ★★★ | Charing Cross Theatre | June 2024

CLOSER TO HEAVEN | ★★★★ | The Turbine Theatre | June 2024

THE BLEEDING TREE | ★★★★ | Southwark Playhouse Borough | June 2024

FUN AT THE BEACH ROMP-BOMP-A-LOMP!! | ★★★ | Southwark Playhouse Borough | May 2024

HELLO, DOLLY!

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

★★★★

“a brave and exciting revival that mixes gritty absurdism with precision-cut stylisation and outstanding performances”

When Sophie Treadwell’s “Machinal” premiered in 1928, the New York Times was so intrigued that it reviewed the production twice – calling it ‘a triumph of individual distinction, gleaming with intangible beauty… an illuminating, measured drama such as we are not likely to see again’. The Times described it as a play that ‘in a hundred years… should still be vital and vivid’. Well – here we are, almost a hundred years later and – yes – it is still vital, vivid; and individual. Richard Jones’ revival at The Old Vic will ensure that Treadwell’s legacy will survive another century at the very least.

The play is inspired by (rather than based on) the real-life case of Ruth Snyder who was executed in the electric chair for the murder of her husband. Treadwell’s narrative gives us a fictionalised backstory in nine distinct episodes which describes the chain of events that leads an anonymous woman to her fate. We are shown the different phases of her life and the people she comes into contact with. Rosie Sheehy barely leaves the stage during her extraordinary portrayal of this ordinary woman. A woman who never finds her place. Never finds peace. Driven to eccentricity; disturbed and constrained, but essentially tender and pliable while the life around her is hard and mechanised.

It is a highly impersonal world in which the characters have no names. As a result, they don’t attract much sympathy and while we are drawn into their expressionist world, we are not invited to have any emotional involvement. It is the rhythm of the piece that keeps us going along for the ride. Jones’ direction is as stylish and stylised as the writing, although he is just one cog in the machine. Benjamin Grant’s discordant, staccato soundscape chimes with Adam Silverman’s lighting that both punctuate and underscore the narrative. Sarah Fahie is credited as movement director, but choreographer is a more apt description. Even Hyemi Shin’s mustard-tinged, claustrophobic set seems to have rehearsed its movements in time to the clockwork dialogue and the pulse of the play.

Repetition informs the action, adding to the sense of unease and entrapment our protagonist feels. She quits her humdrum job by marrying the boss – a misogynist who regards his wife as a business acquisition, yet Tim Francis brilliantly manages to find a very likeable eccentricity to an otherwise despicably outdated personality. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to just ‘quit’ her marriage, which eventually leads her to the extreme measures of murder, having bizarrely got the idea from a chance remark made by her lover (Pierro Niel-Mee). The feminist message is somewhat sabotaged along the way. And we never quite understand her detachment, nor indeed her disproportionate, sadistic treatment of her nagging, potato-obsessed mother (a wonderfully colourful and funny Buffy Davis).

Although a few of the scenes are drawn out, the pace never drags. We might not sympathise, but we enjoy the absurdity immensely. It is another world but uncomfortably like our own. Although we can see Kafkaesque influences, it is almost impossible to believe that “Machinal” was written a century ago; and we are also reminded of those that Treadwell has influenced in turn. This is a brave and exciting revival that mixes gritty absurdism with precision-cut stylisation and outstanding performances.

Tag Archives: Manuel Harlan

HELLO, DOLLY!

★★★★

London Palladium

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