"Hello, Dolly!" Review Thread (Paper Mill)

[jimnysf]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 12:31am

From Broadway Stars. Link to full review:

http://www.broadwaystars.com/matthew/2006/06/hello_dolly_1.shtml







"...Feldshuh, like the rest of the production, is technically proficient: There's nothing wrong, but also nothing resoundingly right. You can discern moments of spirit in Jonathan Rayson as the uptight Cornelius, the older of the two clerks; in Brian Sears, a wide-eyed human milkshake machine who makes younger clerk Barnaby a boy with growing pains who becomes a man with astonishing speed; and Jessica-Snow Wilson as fizzy female foil Minnie Fay. Kate Baldwin, as the hat shop owner (and friend to Minnie) Vandergelder is supposed to marry, has a diffident attitude that doesn't give way to the lush feelings that eventually lead her into someone else's arms. Charles, much like Feldshuh, plays so much of Vandergelder's underlying discontent that he often forgets to be funny. The role needs a comic, not a blustery uncle.

The sets (Michael Anania), costumes (James Schuette), and lights (Charlie Morrison) are as professional but uninspired as the actors, creating no elevated romping room in which oversized personas could play, even if they were present. Mia Michaels's choreography tends to transforms the sparse dancing corps into disconnected cogs or at worst human folding chairs, never allowing them to be energetic artists who should make you want to jump up onstage and "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" or start "Dancing." At least the orchestra (under Tom Helm's baton) keeps Herman's terrific tunes; if you can keep your toes from tapping almost throughout, you really must explain to me your method of self-restraint.

On second thought, don't. Hello, Dolly! isn't about containing yourself, but about letting yourself go and embracing the special uniqueness of life that makes it worth living to its fullest as long as it lasts. Hoebee and company, while admirably devoted to discovering the material's inner truth, would have been better served keeping that more firmly in mind.".

[jimnysf]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 1:31pm

NJ Star Ledger:

"...One of the world's wonderful things is, in fact, "Hello, Dolly!" The 1964 smash hit, with its funny book by Michael Stewart and tuneful Jerry Herman score, is often considered a mere piece of musical cotton candy. It's much more than that, as it stresses the importance of generosity, friendship and love, while it urges all of us to live life to the fullest...

The actress is totally in charge as she forges her way through her dialogue, and sings with brio. Though she's petite, she barrels through the show with the force-of-nature quality that Dolly must have...Walter Charles plays him without the usual humor that many actors have found, but in the process, Charles comes across as a real human being. He avoids becoming the cartoon that so many other Vandergelders have been...Kate Baldwin is lovely and charming as Irene. Jonathan Rayson smartly calibrates Cornelius' rise from Vandergelder's intimidated employee to a man who reaches his potential, once he finds love and his backbone. As co-worker Barnaby, Brian Sears puts his marvelous comic timing to excellent use.

Mark S. Hoebee directs it all with terrific speed. Would that Mia Michaels' choreography were more dazzling. She should get more out of the second act's most famous numbers, where the waiters at the Harmonia Gardens first show how busy they are, before welcoming Dolly back to her old haunt.

Set designer Michael Anania was obviously put on a limited budget, as is evidenced by the skeletal sets. More damaging, though, is his use of extensive black in the opening scene, which should be light and airy. That he uses it again in the Harmonia Gardens scene is doubly odd.

Still, audiences should be won over by "Hello, Dolly!" long before a certain moment in the second act. That's when Cornelius, too, announces to a room full of people, "The world is full of wonderful things!" Thanks to him, Irene and "Hello, Dolly!" for reminding us.".


http://www.nj.com/theater/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/115008697174730.xml&coll=1

[jimnysf]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 1:37pm

NY Times

full review at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/theater/reviews/13doll.html?pagewanted=print

"Tovah Feldshuh at the Paper Mill: Top o' the Mornin', Dolly!"

"The feathered hats and headdresses look familiar; the sweeping skirts and corseted bodices too. Business cards still flutter like confetti from that tapestry bag, and her big entrance still involves a beaded gown and a goddesslike descent of a near-legendary staircase. But when the meddling matchmaker opens her mouth in the Paper Mill Playhouse's new production of "Hello, Dolly!" here, out leaps a leprechaun.

Seeking to avoid invidious comparisons with Carol Channing, her most celebrated — and most possessive — predecessor in the role, the enterprising Tovah Feldshuh has traced the roots of Dolly Gallagher Levi back to an imagined homeland in Ireland, locating the character's feisty spirit in an early life of want in the days of the potato famine. Speaking — and even singing — in a brogue as thick as the shtick it must serve, Ms. Feldshuh places her own stamp on one of the musical theater's most celebrated female roles. As they say in old Eire, you go, girl!...Ms. Feldshuh's smile may be less resplendently toothy than Ms. Channing's, which sometimes gives the unsettling impression that if you step too close, you might lose a limb. But it is more than sufficient to signal Dolly's embracing spirit. And while she has not appeared on Broadway in a musical since 1979 (in "Saravá," a quick-flop adaptation of "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands"), her singing is vibrant and assured, a few tricky register shifts notwithstanding. Petite and svelte, she dances persuasively too, ornamenting the introduction to "Dancing" with a little jig, of course.

But it's the accent that first disorients, then beguiles and ultimately delights. By the second act of this efficient, pretty production, Ms. Feldshuh had me convinced that I could hear wistful traces of "Danny Boy" in the bridge to the show's famous title tune. Since it is one of those aggressively catchy anthems able to inculcate an allergic reaction to show tunes, who wouldn't be grateful to hear the song given a fresh spin?...The Paper Mill production, directed faithfully by Mark S. Hoebee on airy sets by Michael Anania, features a likable, vocally strong cast led by Walter Charles, who sings with particular grace as Dolly's cranky prey, Horace Vandergelder. Among the three sets of young lovebirds, Brian Sears in particular shines out as a buoyantly charming Barnaby Tucker. But the characters have the depth of antique paper dolls, despite the actors' spirited handling of Mr. Herman's warm, tuneful score.

A musical that traded on nostalgia when it was new, "Hello, Dolly!" now must rely on nostalgia for nostalgia to win us over. In our unsentimental age, audiences are likely to dismiss its sweet-spirited exhortations to join the grand parade of life as, in the words of Dolly Gallagher Levi, so much blarney.".

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/13/06 at 1:40pm

LOL In that first photo, it looks as if one of the waiters is petulantly screaming at her.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 12:24pm

Saw it last night. It was pretty good. Wasn't blown away. The score and cast were the stars of the show. Tovah was great, as were the rest of the leads, and the energetic male ensemble.

I love the score, but Dolly just isn't one of my favorite Golden Age Musicals.

[DG]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 12:33pm

". . . less resplendently toothy than Ms. Channing's, which sometimes gives the unsettling impression that if you step too close, you might lose a limb."

I wonder if Dollypop has seen this.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 12:39pm

I can't see our Dollypop finding this production spectacular.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/19/06 at 12:43pm

She looks more like Mrs. Paroo than Dolly...