Latest news with #Dolly!'
Boston Globe
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
You're looking (and sounding) swell, Dolly
Advertisement 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 Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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, Don Aucoin can be reached at
Western Telegraph
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Vision Theatre Company set to perform 'Hello, Dolly!'
Vision Theatre Company will be performing Hello, Dolly! at the Boulevard Theatre from May 1 to 3. The Tony Award-winning musical follows matchmaker Dolly Levi as she tries to find a match for Horace Vandergelder, a 'well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire.' With plenty of matchmaking and meddling, Dolly's true plan is to convince Horace that she is his perfect match. The show features 'spectacular costumes' and a score by Jerry Herman, including songs such as Put on Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By, and Hello, Dolly! More Stories Drew Baker, Vision Theatre Company's creative director, said: "We're absolutely delighted to bring this theatrical gem to the Boulevard Theatre. "The joy, humour, and heart of 'Hello, Dolly!' is exactly what audiences need right now, and our talented cast is eager to transport theatregoers to the vibrant world of turn-of-the-century New York." Tickets for all performances are on sale now and can be purchased directly from the Boulevard Theatre's website.
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
John Lithgow's ‘Giant' Is Among the Big Winners at the Olivier Awards
'Giant,' a play about Roald Dahl's antisemitism starring John Lithgow as the truculent children's author, was one of the big winners at this year's Olivier Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Tonys. The play, which was staged at the Royal Court last year and is transferring to the West End on April 26, took home three awards at Sunday's ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London: best actor, for Lithgow; best supporting actor for Elliot Levey as a publisher trying to get Dahl to apologize for his statements about Jews; and the coveted best new play award. For that final prize, 'Giant' bested four other titles, including 'The Years,' an acclaimed staging of a Frenchwoman's life (featuring a back-street abortion and late-in-life affair) that is running at the Harold Pinter Theater until April 19. The success for 'Giant' was perhaps unsurprising given how much critics praised its opening run. Clive Davis, in The Times of London, said the 'subtle, intelligent and stylishly crafted' drama, written by Mark Rosenblatt and directed by Nicholas Hytner, 'deserves to transfer to a bigger stage.' (Lithgow has said in interviews that he wants to take the play to Broadway.) Houman Barekat in a review for The New York Times said that Lithgow was 'superb as the beleaguered but unrepentant writer, blending affable, avuncular esprit with scowling, cranky prickliness and nonchalant cruelty. Two other productions also won three awards: A revival of 'Fiddler on the Roof,' the much-loved 1964 musical, which ran at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater last year; and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' a folk-rock adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who ages in reverse. 'Fiddler on the Roof,' which is transferring to London's Barbican in May, won the best musical revival prize among other awards. Its competitors were a production of 'Hello, Dolly!' that ran at the London Palladium; and ongoing revivals of 'Starlight Express' at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theater and 'Oliver!' at the Gielgud Theater. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' which is playing at the Ambassadors Theater, took home the best new musical award, as well as the best actor in a musical for its lead, John Dagleish, and the outstanding musical contribution prize. The night's other major prizes went to a host of productions. The best director award, which pits the most-talked-about plays and musicals against each other, went to Eline Arbo for the 'The Years' — a play that has grabbed attention in London for more than the action onstage: Sonia Friedman, the show's producer, said that at almost every performance, an audience member has fainted during the abortion scene. The best actress in a musical prize went to Imelda Staunton in the title role of 'Hello, Dolly!', while the best actress in a play award went to Lesley Manville for her Jocasta in Robert Icke's 'Oedipus,' which ran at Wyndham's Theater. The best new comedy or entertainment award went to a West End version of 'Titanique,' an absurd retelling of James Cameron's 'Titanic' movie featuring Celine Dion songs that had its New York premiere in 2022.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Trump is giving the Kennedy Center a tough new act
Don't cry for him, America, but when it comes to his vision for the Kennedy Center, President Donald J. Trump appears to be dreaming impossible dreams. The president, who is also now the board chair for the Kennedy Center, convened a meeting of said board on Monday. In a recording of the meeting shared with The Washington Post, Trump and members said they'd like to see 'Camelot,' 'Cats,' 'Fiddler on the Roof,' 'Hello, Dolly!' and 'The Phantom of the Opera' featured at the Kennedy Center. Speaking with reporters, Trump said, 'We're going to get some very good shows.' There are a number of practical problems with this wish list, the first of which is that none of those musicals are touring in North America (although a tour of 'Phantom' does launch in November). And if the Kennedy Center were to try to mount its own nonunion productions, it would run into a brick wall of standing labor contracts. 'We're gonna fix that,' the president said upon learning that the Kennedy Center would have had to pay the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in order to have board member Lee Greenwood sing at the meeting. 'They wanted $30,000 to move a piano,' Trump claimed. And yet, none of these obstacles prevent the president of the United States from assuming 'Cats' will be onstage at the Kennedy Center next year, as if he has the power to summon Mr. Mistoffelees and Rum Tum Tugger through sheer will. Since Feb. 7, when Trump announced plans to appoint himself America's arts impresario in chief, he has fired roughly two dozen board members appointed by President Joe Biden, had the remaining trustees elect a new president of the board and dismissed Kennedy Center leader Deborah Rutter, who had helmed the institution for 11 years. Life at the center has been a tumultuous free fall ever since, with a series of cancellations and missed deadlines. The second week of March, when the Kennedy Center typically announces programming for the next season, has come and gone. Across Washington, venues like The Anthem and Shakespeare Theatre Company are fielding calls from artists and organizations looking for somewhere else to perform. Most notably, the producers and creators of the musical theater juggernaut 'Hamilton' announced they were canceling a two-month run, which most likely have generated more money than any other show in the 2025-26 Kennedy Center season. 'I never liked 'Hamilton' very much,' the president said, undeterred. Yet alleged financial mismanagement at the Kennedy Center has been top of mind for Trump and his surrogates, including Ric Grenell, the former ambassador whom the president appointed to replace Rutter on at least an interim basis, who accused the center of having low cash reserves. As a nonprofit organization, the Kennedy Center is required to submit public tax returns, and the most recently available filings indicate it is not in financial distress, with a total budget of $268 million and a surplus of $6 million. About 16% percent of the budget comes from a congressional appropriation specifically earmarked for physical upkeep, because the center was dedicated in 1971 as a national memorial to slain President John F. Kennedy Jr. Staffers have admitted that some needed maintenance has been deferred, and regular visitors know that massive columns on the weather-beaten Potomac River side are under scaffolding for repairs. Still, the center hardly seems in need of the make-it-great-again overhaul the president claims. 'It's in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of our country,' Trump said. His redecorating plans include 'the seats, the décor, everything' and will be funded by Congress. But in a series of recent interviews, a board member appointed during Trump's first term has shared his own glitzed-up vision for the Kennedy Center. Among other things, New York real estate magnate Paolo Zampolli has proposed fashion shows, a Cipriani restaurant and a ramp so he can travel by boat from Georgetown instead of taking an Uber. 'I see the center like La Scala of Milano,' he told Politico. 'So luxurious. So prestigious.' But Zampolli's vision of the Kennedy Center as a hangout for Washington's 1% sets up an odd dichotomy for the proposed audience. The average red-hat-wearing tourist who might buy tickets for 'Cats' has never dreamed of eating overpriced spaghetti at Cipriani. The reality is that most Kennedy Center audiences are in the middle of these two demographics: They are federal workers who enjoy classical music, NGO lobbyists with undergraduate theater degrees and labor leaders with affinities for modern dance. And they are exactly the people now weighing whether to boycott Kennedy Center performances, because they are laid off, they are protesting Trump's takeover or both. More important, most Kennedy Center audiences were never the sort of conservative theatergoers clamoring for a season of 'Cats,' 'Phantom' and 'Fiddler on the Roof.' 'Those are G-rated, general audience, high school-approved shows,' Lulu Picart told me. A Broadway performer and theater artist, Picart appeared at the Kennedy Center in the 2023 touring production of the musical '1776,' which featured a cast of female, trans and nonbinary performers as America's Founding Fathers. Picart and her cast members were appalled to wake up one February morning and discover all record of the groundbreaking performance had been scrubbed from the Kennedy Center's website. (Ironically, the Trump administration has made artistic endeavors celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence a priority over at the National Endowment for the Arts.) The president, in an Evita-like photo-op on Monday, stood in the Kennedy Center's Opera House presidential box, arms outstretched as if there were hundreds of fans below him instead of a handful of handpicked board members. 'It won't be easy, you'll think it strange,' the eponymous character Evita sang in the opening of her anthem for a new Argentina. She's absolutely right. The changes Trump is proposing won't be easy. And as anyone who knows show business could tell the president, it's also very, very strange. This article was originally published on
