Theatre review: Hello Dolly!

Recently-upgraded Dame Imelda Staunton finally gets to take the title role in Jerry Herman (music & lyrics) and Michael Stewart's (book) Hello Dolly Exclamation Mark: Dominic Cooke's production is another holdover from 2020, delayed even further by the leading lady's prior commitment to try and elicit sympathy for the Queen having to give up her favourite yacht. In an unusually widow-heavy Broadway classic, Dolly Levi has dealt with the loss of her husband by throwing herself into matchmaking. But after several years she's decided she's finally ready to find a new match for herself - except the man she's decided on has already engaged her services to find him someone else. Scrooge-like Yonkers shopkeeper Horace Vandergelder (Andy Nyman) is the half-a-millionnaire she'd originally matched with New York milliner Irene Molloy (Jenna Russell.)

Using a Machiavellian approach to dating, Dolly causes a distraction by convincing Horace's shop clerks Cornelius (Harry Hepple) and Barnaby (Tyrone Huntley) to visit New York as well, where Cornelius and Irene hit it off.

Although I grew up watching a fair amount of Golden Age musicals Hello Dolly! wasn't one of them, and as it's also not as regular a returnee to the West End as it appears to be to Broadway this was actually one I was coming to fresh. That does also mean I didn't bring any particular nostalgia to the theatre with me, so the unironically old-fashioned look at early 20th century New York is giving people the retro treat they're here for - old-fashioned is certainly the term here, from the bright-eyed performances to Rae Smith's luxurious set and costume designs, the feel is very much of reviving the full big-budget Broadway experience.

For a story of its time though it comes without any particularly jarring values dissonance: Apart from some dusty attitudes about what women are good for (which the firmly in-charge Dolly proves false anyway) there's nothing to leave a nasty taste in the mouth. With the exception of the title song it's not one that's had a lot of numbers become standalone standards, but the tunes are as affable as the story, and I warmed to the whole thing a lot more after the interval.

I think it's because, although the story's honesty about the transactional nature of these pairings is refreshing, this is still essentially a romantic musical comedy, and Dolly's brisk plans to marry a wealthy man she doesn't much seem to like are hard to really root for. But in the second act we get the title song which sees a newly glammed-up Dolly arrive in style at one of her old haunts and be welcomed back with affection.

Here we get something to root for, as her return into the marriage market means Dolly is also returning to public life where she was once the life and soul. Just as the character's been on the sidelines matchmaking, so she's been on the sidelines of her own show until now, engineering the plot, and now finally Staunton can bring some of that vitality and stage presence everyone's come here for.

The strong central cast is rounded out by Emily Lane in the somewhat thankless role of Irene's assistant Minnie; getting more memorable cameos are Emily Langham as Ermengarde, Horace's permanently-hysterical niece whom Dolly is trying to help marry penniless artist Ambrose (Michael Lin,) and Jodie Jacobs as Ernestina Money, a character for whom the most period-appropriate term is probably... brassy. Cooke's production isn't going to make me add Hello Dolly! to my favourite classic musicals, but at least the simple fun it promises is delivered in spades.

Hello Dolly! by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart, based on The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder, is booking until the 14th of September at the London Palladium.

Running time: 2 hours 35 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.