Hello, Dolly! | Live Show Review – TOP 20 MUSICALS 2024 WINNER!

Simon Button
Wednesday, December 4, 2024

It's so good to have Imelda Staunton back where she belongs in the show of the summer

Imelda Staunton (Images credit: Manuel Harlan)

Delayed by four years because of the pandemic and Imelda Staunton’s commitment to The Crown, the revival of Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium proves well worth the wait. The perfectly cast leading lady hits every note, emotion and comic beat in a production which, as directed by Dominic Cooke, breathes vibrant life into a musical comedy classic. There’s no pesky revisionism going on here; it’s a reverent, extravagant revival that pulls out all the stops to give the audience a rollicking good time.

After her no-holds-barred turns as the conniving Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Rose, the monstrously pushy mother in Gypsy, as well as the sorrowful Sally in Follies, it’s lovely to see Staunton in something lighter and more heart-warming. And she’s having a ball as the matchmaker of the title – hilariously meddlesome, grieving for her late husband but ready to re-embrace life before the parade passes by.

In 1890s New York, Dolly Levi is tasked with finding a match for crotchety half-millionaire Horace Vandergelder, a widower who runs the profitable Vandergelder’s Hay and Feed and is better at counting his money than he is at engaging with his young employees Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker. Dolly fixes him up with milliner Irene Molloy but has every intention of marrying him herself as she leads Cornelius and Barnaby into the arms of Irene and her assistant Minnie Fay.

Originally staged in 1964 with Carol Channing in the lead role, this star vehicle has attracted everyone from Mary Martin to Danny La Rue via Pearl Bailey and Betty Buckley, not to mention a tremendously funny but way-too-young Barbra Streisand in the 1969 screen version.

Most recently Bette Midler headlined the 2017 Broadway revival, followed by Bernadette Peters. It featured a fan-pleasing star turn from Midler, who brought so much of her schtick to the role that it was more like ‘Bette Midler AND Hello, Dolly!’ than ‘Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly!’ Peters gave herself over to the part rather than dominating it but the production itself felt a bit cheap.

There’s no such corner-cutting here. It’s a lavish affair, with a cast of around 40 and 21-piece orchestra, colourful costumes, a travelator and projections that make it feel like New York is constantly on the move, plus a fully-stocked hay and feed store and an applause-grabbing train carriage.

Musical numbers like ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’, ‘Dancing’ and ‘Before the Parade Passes By’ are impressive in scope and delightful in execution. Dolly’s return to the Harmonia Gardens, where she’s as much-loved by the staff as Staunton is by the audience, is heralded by a gaggle of dancing waiters dazzlingly balancing silver trays before Staunton descends an ornate staircase in a gorgeous green gown to thunderous cheers.

She’s ably supported by a flirty Jenna Russell as Irene (her ‘Ribbons Down My Back’ is a quiet highlight in Jerry Herman’s magnificent score) and a flighty Emily Lane as Minnie, and Harry Hepple and Tyrone Huntley are goofily charming as Cornelius and Barnaby. The role of Horace Vandergelder isn’t the meatiest, since he’s here to be won over by the whirligig that is Dolly Levi, but Andy Nyman is endearingly bemused – his (arguably) rather progressive view of the opposite sex, as sung in ‘It Takes a Woman’, extends to their ability to shoe mares and fix the plumbing.

Michael Stewart’s book features entrepreneurial women and men who go weak-kneed around them, hence Cooke not having to tweak any political incorrectnesses because there isn’t any. And Staunton is a Dolly for the ages, putting away her mourning clothes as the show opens and confidently striding back into the land of the living as she hands out business cards which prove nothing is beyond her capabilities.

The same could be said of Staunton herself. After all that time on the telly, it’s so nice to have her back where she belongs: centre stage in a show that’s the epitome of Musical Theatre at its glorious best.