You're looking (and sounding) swell, Dolly

Boston Globe

19-05-2025

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Though 'Hello, Dolly!' is the warhorse to end all warhorses, it's still got some giddy-up. Modernizing it would not work, and Parent wisely does not try, even though his program note makes clear that today's political climate is much on his mind. His unapologetically old-fashioned production taps into the strength of Jerry Herman's score – which remains hard to resist no matter how many times you've heard it – while showcasing the musical-comedy chops of Aimee Doherty.
She plays Dolly Gallagher Levi, a matchmaker and 'marriage broker' in the 1880s who's trying to reel in Horace Vandergelder (an entertainingly stuffy Joshua Wolf Coleman), 'the Yonkers half-a-millionaire' owner of a hay and feed store, for herself.
It's a role that has traditionally been played powerhouse personalities whose performances were as extravagant as the oversized hats Dolly favors. Carol Channing originated the role in 1964, and went on to play Dolly twice more on Broadway, in 1978 and 1995. (Channing's return trips to the show inspired a parody in Needham native
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In the 1969 film version, Dolly was played by Barbra Streisand, then only 27, too young for a character who is supposed to be middle-aged. At points along the way, Broadway legends Ethel Merman and Mary Martin also shouldered the role onstage.
Doherty's portrayal is more modestly scaled. Rather than seek to overpower the audience at Lyric Stage with sheer bombast, Doherty deploys a winking charm to enlist them as allies, almost co-conspirators, in Dolly's quest to land Vandergelder as a husband. Michael Stewart's book — based on Thornton Wilder's 1954 Broadway play, 'The Matchmaker' — is frequently stilted, so it helps that Doherty has such a deft way with a one-liner.
The Lyric Stage space isn't large enough to fully capture the spectacle of two of the show's best songs — the joyous 'Put on Your Sunday Clothes' and the mix of poignancy and determination that is 'Before the Parade Passes By' — but the cast sweeps you up with their sheer energy, creating a kind of controlled pandemonium.
Choreographer Ilyse Robbins, as usual, has devised dance moves that simultaneously fit with and elevate the production: a buoyant combination of styles and coquettish poses that leverage the visual possibilities of the women's long skirts. Costume designer Kelly Baker has dressed the cast in period-perfect garb, including, yes, hats the size of flying saucers for Doherty.
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With its curving staircase and signs on either side that read 'Yonkers' and 'Grand Central,' Janie E. Howland's set efficiently communicates a sense of place(s). Music director Dan Rodriguez and his orchestra do stellar work, though they drowned out Coleman at times Sunday afternoon — a perennial problem at Lyric Stage with softer-voiced performers.
Beyond the Dolly-Horace drama, the bright lights of New York City are beckoning Vandergelder's chief clerk, Cornelius Hackl (a first-rate Michael Jennings Mahoney), and his innocent assistant, Barnaby Tucker (Max Connor). They soon become entangled with Irene Molloy, a widowed milliner played by the vibrant Kristian Espiritu, and her assistant, Minnie Fay (an amusing Temma Beaudreau), with the women convinced the men are rich and placing meal orders accordingly.
Herman, who died in 2019 at the age of 88, was all in on romance, and the actors in his shows need to take an equally unconditional approach. Espiritu beautifully fulfills that requirement in her Act One solo, 'Ribbons Down my Back,' blending delicacy and yearning. Herman is also virtually synonymous with big, brassy anthems (consider his 'I Am What I Am' from 'La Cage aux Folles,' or the title number in 'Mame'). Not for him the ironic distance of his contemporary, Stephen Sondheim. (Who was by far the superior artist.)
Brassy though Lyric Stage's 'Hello, Dolly!' is, it's also studded with small, resonant moments. Mark Linehan, who is very funny as Rudolph, the maître 'd at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, executes a nifty tap break during the title song.
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But the spotlight invariably returns to Doherty, who brings her trademark verve to her performance of the title song, begun as Dolly descends the staircase in Harmonia Gardens. Like Dolly, when Doherty needs to go big, she goes very big.
HELLO, DOLLY!
Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Michael Stewart. Based on Thornton Wilder's 'The Matchmaker.' Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music direction, Dan Rodriguez. Choreography, Ilyse Robbins. Presented by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. Through June 22. 617-585-5678, LyricStage.com
Don Aucoin can be reached at