A proper golden-age-of-musicals show, the Broadway version of Hello Dolly! has arrived for a limited season at the London Palladium.
Staunton delivers in spades
Imelda Staunton appears to be the go-to choice for leading ladies in the West End of late. Having had great success with Sally (Follies), Momma Rose (Gypsy) and Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd), she seems the obvious choice for Dolly Levi, an upstate New York match-maker who is trying to find a wife for miserly storekeeper Horace Vandergelder. In reality, the match she wants to make for Horace is herself.
Vandergelder’s clerks – Cornelius and Barnaby – are left in charge of the store while he travels to New York on a date, but the pair have other plans and decide to head to New York themselves in order to "kiss a girl". Dolly arranges for them to meet two ladies – Irene Molloy and Minnie Fay, and says they should take them to the Harmonia Gardens for dinner.
Of course Dolly is the great puppeteer in this farce, engineering things so she can end up with her man.
The production is on a grand scale with massive set pieces such as the trolley car, steam train and ubiquitous staircase at the Harmonia Gardens. Behind the action, a massive LED screen transports us through the many settings and giving the show a real sense of motion. Staunton delivers in spades, especially in the titular number which got a standing ovation even before the song was over.
Hello Dolly! is only playing until 14th September, so time really is running out to catch this iconic show.
