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Boston Globe

She went from being a scientist to taking the stage. Now she's starring in ‘Hello, Dolly!'

Parent, a celebrated Boston actor and director who also leads the Front Porch Arts Collective, recalls how Doherty captured her character's improvisational personality during her audition, in a scene that unfolds at Dolly's beloved Harmonia Gardens restaurant, where she hasn't been since the death of her husband. With his assistant director Thomas W. Grant (below), director Maurice Emmanuel Parent keeps an eye on rehearsal of "Hello, Dolly!" at the Lyric Stage Boston. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Advertisement 'Every time she did the scene, it was slightly different, and she was playing with different things. I was like, 'That's what Dolly needs to feel like. She's a woman who has a clear end goal, but she's figuring out things in the moment.'' At one point, Parent says, Doherty approached the audition table where Parent and Lyric co-artistic director Courtney O'Connor were sitting and whispered to them with a conspiratorial air, ''Hey, are you two together?' I said 'no,' and she rips off a piece of her [script excerpt] with her number on it, hands it to us and says, 'Call me.' Then she walks away and did the rest of the scene. She was already in character, already matchmaking!' That sealed the deal for Parent. He knew he had found his Dolly. 'I think an actor who makes bold choices informs a director in their choices,' he says. 'And her choice really informed how I'm structuring the piece. There is no fourth wall. So at any moment, it should feel like Dolly could say to an audience member, 'Hey, I have this wonderful person for you. Here's my card.'' Indeed, Parent is leaning on the Lyric's thrust stage setup and playing into the intimacy that can foster. The theater's four aisles and two tunnels will be utilized to full effect with the 16 performers. When Doherty decided to audition for the show, featuring music and lyrics by the legendary Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart, she wasn't sure if she was ready to play Dolly yet, but Parent said to show them what she had. Advertisement 'So I went in there and had fun and just aimed for the fences, and it was freeing because I didn't expect that I had much of a shot at it. Those auditions where you can keep the pressure off are usually the ones where you're the most playful, the most loose, and the most free to be yourself.' While Doherty has won two Elliot Norton Awards for her performances in 'On the Town' and 'Into the Woods' and been nominated for several others, her work has hit new heights in recent years. She cites playing 'I gave myself permission to not always be nice and likable. I wanted people to like me all the time, but with [Sally], I just decided that, yeah, she's selfish and childish at times, and people can be that way, and I need to just show it and not worry about alienating the audience. I've got to just trust that they will not give up on her and will still root for her.' Choreographer Ilyse Robbins at rehearsal for "Hello, Dolly!" Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff With Dolly, there's little chance that the audience won't be rooting for and charmed by the people-pleaser from the minute she sashays onstage. She'll also break your heart. In the show, set in 1890s New York City, Dolly is a matchmaker with several other side gigs and chutzpah to spare. She's been mired in grief, her life frozen after the death of her husband Ephraim years before. Her latest job is to find a wife for grumpy Horace Vandergelder (Joshua Wolf Coleman), a wealthy-but-miserly merchant in Yonkers. But on this day, Dolly has an awakening and decides that she finally has to get off the sidelines of life and join the parade before it passes her by — and schemes to marry Horace herself. Advertisement 'She's always rearranging other people's lives, but what first struck me is how much [Dolly] is stuck herself,' Doherty says. 'She needs to live her life now. She needs to let go of grief and move on and forgive herself for doing that.' Several stories of young love intersect with Dolly's. Horace's wide-eyed shop workers Cornelius (Michael Jennings Mahoney) and Barnaby (Max Connor) head to New York and fall for plucky hat shop proprietor Irene Molloy (Kristian Espiritu) and her assistant, Minnie Fay (Temma Beaudreau). Then there's Horace's overprotected niece Ermengarde (Sophie Shaw) and the young artist, Ambrose (Stephen Caliskan), who she yearns to marry against her uncle's wishes. A "Hello, Dolly!" rehearsal last week at Lyric Stage Boston. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Similar to some of her previous roles, Dolly is what Doherty dubs a 'boss babe.' 'She's very smart, and she's working within the constraints on women's roles at that time and using whatever she's got,' Doherty says. 'And I always gravitate towards those [characters] who are loud and opinionated and a little sexy and unabashedly themselves, but they're working against the system that doesn't believe a lady is supposed to be a business owner or a mover and shaker.' Doherty can relate to Dolly making a leap of faith to transform her life. Growing up in Walpole and Bellingham, Doherty took tap, jazz, and ballet as a kid and did her high school's production of 'Grease,' but never considered studying acting or becoming a performer. After carving out a successful career as an environmental scientist, helping to clean up oil spills and hazardous waste sites, she began doing community theater on the side. Advertisement Aimee Doherty, as Dolly Levi, is lifted by cast members during a dance number. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Then in 2004, she landed a part in a SpeakEasy production of Sondheim's 'Company' — and never looked back. She started acting all around town. A few years later, when she got laid off from her job, she made a permanent transition. 'It was just a happy accident. I don't know that I would've ever had the courage to walk away from a career that I had for 15 years to say, 'I'm just going to dedicate my time and my heart to acting full time.' Parent says that Dolly's vow to 'rejoin the human race' and re-engage with life in a new and hopeful way is an inspiring message that reminds audiences, 'Even when we're down and out, you're still alive and you still have an opportunity to live your dreams and your life to the fullest.' HELLO, DOLLY! Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, book by Michael Stewart. At: The Lyric Stage Company, May 16-June 22. Tickets from $25 ; 617-585-5678;