Imelda Staunton Hello, Dolly starts tonight! — Page 3

Lord, what key is she in? She’s in the basement! 

Going to be honest, I saw this tonight and felt it to be…honorific and bland.

The Palladium is a HUGE house to play and this production just seemed turned into itself too much to let the audience in. It was missing all of the pop and fizz that made the last Broadway revival such a hoot. Adding songs from the movie also just prolonged the show unnecessarily and didn’t add anything of worth.

Imelda was okay, but the only time she came most alive was “So Long Dearie” and by then it was too little too late. The supporting cast, save for Andy Nyman, all seemed to be in different places and never gelled for me. Also, the title number was sooooo sleepy that it actually hurt me to see how melancholy it had been played out

Gypsy 2015 · 2 hr 23 min TV-PG Shout! Factory TV network logo Music · Musicals A live performance of the Chichester Festival’s revival, at London’s Savoy Theatre in 2015, of Stephen Sondheim’s and Jules Styne’s musical classic. Subtitles: English Starring:Imelda StauntonLara PulverPeter DavisonScarlet RocheLara WollingtonDan Burton Directed by:Lonny Price

This is free on Tubi, they have lots of interesting things on there!

Updated On: 7/31/24 at 03:51 PM

So, I am seeing this relatively blind in about 3 weeks. The big draw for me is Imelda Staunton. I don't like going to shows mainly/just for one performer as a rule, but this will be my first major West End revival, which will make it special no matter what. I do know some of Dolly's songs and I read The Matchmaker way back in college. Does anyone have thoughts on which cast recording is the absolute best, and where I should start? 

binau said: "I genuinely think if you see the show for the first time (i.e. you didn't see the Bette Midler revival) you will enjoy it, I highly recommend going and you will probably have a great time especially if you love Staunton. I'm personally partial to the Bette Midler revival cast recording (just love the supporting cast, very much missed in London), the Pearl Bailey recording, occasionally the original Carrol Channing recording. That said - the songs of this show would be a classic, classic example of something that you will often find instantly memorable the first time and 'humming outside the theatre' or whatever analogy you want. I don't actually think you need to listen to the recording beforehand.

"

You have no idea how excited this makes me for the show! I'm seeing it 2 weeks from today. I think I'll queue up the Bette/Carol recordings for the plane ride. Looks like the Pearl Bailey one isn't available on Apple Music. I'll have to grab it on CD sometime. 

I haven´t seen it yet... but with what I´ve seen, I´m seriously thinking of not going. I´ve seen many clips online, and the title number is just not staged the way it should. Same for Sunday, which has "new arrangements" that take all the climatic build out of the song. What a waste of a stellar cast and 21 piece orchestra!

Hello Imelda 

The orchestra sounds good

That was like the death of musical theatre in the twilight zone while set in the Upside Down.

Between “Hello” and “Harry”, there was time to take a nap or leave the building or both. 

And the dance break choreography could have been taken out of any class at Pineapple Studios on a Thursday evening. Pointless and meaningless. 

Sorry London. Hope you’re okay after this production. 

I enjoyed it! Imelda was terrific, that woman can sing! It wasn’t the Bette production but hey. 

Broadway Flash said: "The choreo is all in the style of the original, I think it’s fine. You could take out the entire song, and the show would still work, so by that standard, the entire number is pointless and meaningless. Not moving the plot forward, it’s just there to show that Dollys still got it. I’m just not crazy about the tempo changes."

The choreography is nowhere near the style of the original. It's frenetic, chaotic and super athletic - more Michael Kidd (who did the movie) than Gower Champion. The Waiter's Gallop in the second act uses the music from the movie and the choreography is inspired by that (hell, the whole show is basically the movie on stage). 

Still wondering are they going to record this? It closes soon, so perhaps not?