Everett's Northwest Savoyards Presents HELLO, DOLLY 6/3-19

"And what do you do for a living, Mrs. Levi?" asks Ambrose Kemper in the first scene of this most delightful of musical comedies. "Some people paint, some sew...I meddle," replies Dolly.

Hello, Dolly! epitomizes what makes the American Musical genre great. Great show tunes, great costumes and lots of laughter, frolicking and sentimental romance. However, it is also based on The Matchmaker by the classic American playwright Thornton Wilder; this show is much more than just fluff. As demonstrated in his masterpiece Our Town, Wilder was a genius at capturing the essence of Americana and ordinary people in the 19th and early 20th century. Author Michael Stewart and renowned composer Jerry Herman took great pains to translate this to the musical version of the story as we follow the matchmaker, Dolly Levi, in her plans to bring adventure into the lives of several young people, while taking the painful step to move forward in a new romance for herself.

Director Janet Pope and the artistic team for this Northwest Savoyards production take to heart the mission to recreate that snapshot of life in small town Yonkers, New York in the 1890s and the society crowd of New York City. The Act I finale, Before the Parade Passes By, nods to the passion for odd circus and freak show acts of the period, as well as the suffragette movement and Civil War veterans.

Hello, Dolly! has developed into its own American icon. Since winning the Tony Award for best musical in 1964, the musical has had several revivals on Broadway and staged multiple touring productions. Carol Channing has made a career out of playing the title role. The 1969 movie version solidified the career of a young Barbra Streisand and went on to win seven academy awards. The classic tune, It Only Takes A Moment, was selected as the fixation for the trash-compacting robot central character in Disney Pixar's recent film WALL-E.

Played in this production by local favorite Laura Abel, well known matchmaker Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi attempts to find herself a husband in the wealthy Horace Vandergelder. Meanwhile, she matches together a rich widow, Irene Molloy, with Vandergelder's employee, Cornelius Hackl. She also sets up Molloy's assistant Minnie, with Cornelius's assistant Barnaby and the poor artist Ambrose with Vandergelder's niece, Ermengarde. After a wild evening of waiter mayhem, a polka contest and multiple disasters at New York's Harmonia Gardens restaurant, Dolly convinces Vandergelder to marry her in the end.

Vandergelder is played by Abel's talented husband, Mark. The two haven't been paired since the Savoyards 2006 production of Gypsy, where Laura played another theatre icon, Mama Rose, and Mark was cast as her long suffering companion Herbie. Chemistry once again abounds in these more light hearted discoveries between Dolly and Vandergelder. The talented cast with strong singers and dancers also includes Ken Martinez as Cornelius, Amanda Reed Bailey as Irene Malloy, Vaughn Wolfe as Barnaby Tucker and Jennifer Makenas as Minnie Fay.

Choreographer Phil Lacey adds visual delight to several chorus numbers for this production and Pope turns the Harmonia Garden's waiters loose for the wacky waiter's gallop number.

Hello, Dolly! performs June 3-19, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm and Sunday matinee at 2:30pm. All performances are at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave, Everett. Tickets are $22 for adults and $19 for students/seniors/military. Group discounts available. Please call the box office at (425) 258-6766 or purchase online at www.EverettTheatre.org.

 

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