Low Down

Dolly Levi, a New York-based widow and matchmaker finds herself in love with a "half-a-millionaire" Yonkers merchant named Horace Vandergelder. She proceeds to weave a web of romantic complications involving him, his two clerks, a pretty milliner and her assistant to make sure everyone ends up with their suitable match at the end of it all. Set in the late 1890's and with a score by Jerry Herman, this musical first opened on Broadway in 1964.

Review

Parasols, soaring chorus numbers, dancing waiters, posh Sunday clothes and outrageous hats. Hello Dolly shows off Jerry Herman at his best, standing out as one of the last successful examples of the golden era musicals. First produced in 1964 by Broadway impresario David Merrick, the musical is based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce “The Merchant of Yonkers”, which Wilder revised and renamed “The Matchmaker” in 1955. The current Regents Park production aims, and to a large degree succeeds, in taking this old gem of a show and setting it in the open air. An energetic Samantha Spiro leads a jolly cast of twenty-five including an ensemble consisting of mostly young and new talent who bravely muster on through alarmingly frequent slips, trips and falls as consequence of the temperamental and largely unrelenting British summer weather.

A star vehicle type of a show, the role of Dolly hence requires a powerhouse performer with magnetic stage presence and if not foghorn vocals (like Streisand in the film version), then definitely the acting chops to match it. Spiro certainly has the accent down pat, suits the part physically and knows how to work a stage. However, I found her somewhat lacking in star quality and while she works extremely hard to project Dolly’s persona and general attitude to make up for her lack of brassy, Mermanesque-type singing quality, I felt that despite this she was often, a bit out-staged by some of the other cast members.

Josephina Gabrielle on the other hand sparkles and steals every scene as the beautiful young widow Irene Molloy. Giving a very expressive rendition of Ribbons down my back she is also in a class of her own when it comes to the dancing and manages to lift her bit of solo choreography to a whole new level. The detailed nuances she gives to every moment make her the true stand out of the evening while she effortlessly proves that ten years on from Oklahoma at the National she is still a true and rare triple threat.

Akiya Henry as Minnie Faye takes to the stage with a dazzling smile and great presence and I am certain that she is one to keep an eye out for the future. Daniel Crossley as Cornelius Hackle and Oliver Brenin as Barnaby are well cast and perform humorously and competently, while Allan Corduner gives a delightfully grumpy yet loveable turn as half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder. The rest of the cast glide and skip their way through a suitable set and apt choreography for the production numbers, although I was hoping to witness a bit more individuality in the chorus rather than simply a symmetrical sea of perfectly in sync hoofers.        

Most of the audience encountered a rather soggy derriere (note to the producers – please invest in plastic seat covers) but spirits were not in decline as many punters were unmistakeably regular Regents Park Open Air enthusiasts and quite happily took it all in their stride. All in all, this is a fun, cheerful and true to form version of a golden oldie and while it won’t blow you away you will certainly end the evening on a high, humming those old familiar tunes to accompany your possibly muddy exit.    

Reviewed by Jennifer Reischel 30 July - 12 September 2009

Website :

http://openairtheatre.org/pl97.html