Hello, Dolly ! @ Stratford Festival in Canada

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 3:28am

Has anyone had the chance to get up there and see this show yet? I watched a commercial for the show on the net and its looks really really good....can there shows go to Broadway or Tour? Lucy Peacock is playing Dolly...and she was last seen on Broadway in King Lear.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 8/21/05 at 3:41am

HELLY DOLLY! at Startford was not great!

Many problems...poor chorus work (many lyrics were poorly enunciated and the singing was mushy); Lucy Peacock is a fine actress but wrong for Dolly and her whispy voice can hardly be heard above the orchestra; Big numbers ("Put on Your Sunday Clothes", "Dancing" and "Before the Parade Passes By") did not raise the pulse they way they should. Only the "Waiters Galop" in Act Two really came to life. The blocking (on the festival theatre's thrust stage) was awkward and the dancing was uninspired. They also didn't allow many of the jokes to land.

I had seen a community theatre staging a few months before that nailed the humour, and staged the show very effectively with scene changes choreographd into the numbers. The only minor flaw was a Dolly who was a lyric soprano and the songs did not sit comfortably in her range.

No, Stratford's DOLLY! should not tour or move to Broadway.