Hello, Dolly! - Review

London Palladium, London

****

Book by Michael Stewart
Music & lyrics by Jerry Herman
Directed by Dominic Cooke

Imelda Staunton

Several years in the making, but at last Imelda Staunton's Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! arrives at the London Palladium.

This is a musical that appears full of fun, froth and fancy restaurants but at its heart is all about the very essence of the human condition. Dominic Cooke coaxes a gorgeous interpretation of Levi’s strengths and vulnerabilities from Dame Imelda who perhaps is at her most vocally magnificent in the act two tear-jerker Look, Love In My Window. Of course Staunton powers her way through the massive numbers of  Before The Parade Passes By and the title number itself, but it is in capturing  Dolly’s fragility that the actor is at her finest.

Andy Nyman is Horace Vandergelder and Jenna Russell, Irene Molloy, both of them making fine work of supporting Staunton. Equally Tyrone Huntley and Harry Hepple as Vandergelder’s hapless employees are a comedy delight.

Bill Deamer’s choreography is a treat as he makes fine visual use of the 36-strong company luxuriously filling the Palladium’s massive stage. In the pit, Nicholas Skilbeck’s lavishly appointed 22-piece orchestra deliver a gorgeous interpretation of Jerry Herman’s timeless score.

But for a show that is steeped in the very essence of New York from Yonkers to 14th Street NYC, if there is a flaw in the evening it is that we are not transported convincingly to the Big Apple. Finn Ross’s scrolling projections - often found to be brilliant enhancements to a show - are over-deployed here, losing much of their transformative impact.

Hello, Dolly! does not come around that often to a major London stage, least of all with a Dolly of Staunton's calibre and this run itself is tantalisingly short with barely a two month residency in the West End. But the show's song and dance credentials, delivering one of Broadway's all-time greats, are impeccable. A fabulous night of musical comedy.

Runs until September 14th

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan