Goodspeed Opera House is known internationally for its
ability to produce “big” shows in a relatively confined space, and this skill
is manifest in its current production of “Hello, Dolly!” a rollicking,
fast-paced presentation of one of America ’s classic musical comedies.
As my play-going partner put it after seeing the show on Saturday, “The
audience walked out of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ with a skip in their step.”
Much of that “skip” is there because director Daniel
Goldstein is obviously intent on “working” the audience whenever he can, hence,
in the opening number, Dolly Gallagher Levi (Klea Blackhurst) makes her first
appearance not on stage but in one of the aisles, handing out business cards.
The space is also used late in the first act to make the “Parade Passes By”
number seem bigger than it really is.
“Bigger than it really is” might be the operative phrase for
the entire production, for, along with Goldstein, scenic designer Adrian W.
Jones, lighting designer Jason Lyons and choreographer Kelli Barclay have
accepted the stage’s limitations and done everything possible to overcome them.
Ashley Brown. Photo by Diane Sobolewski
One of the biggest challenges in producing “Hello, Dolly!”
is the “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” number, which starts in a feed and grain
store in Yonkers and ends up, via a train ride, in New York City. As the number
began, I was wondering just how they were going to pull it off. Well, I needn’t
have worried, for Jones turns the store’s shelving into railroad car seats, Lyons gives us running
lights projected onto a rear scrim and Barclay has the cast members swaying and
bouncing. In essence, it works beautifully.
Then there’s the “Waiters’ Galop” number, which is a lead-in
to the show’s signature “Hello, Dolly,” when the meddling matchmaker makes her
triumphant return to the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant. Again, the question arose
in my mind – how are they going to give this number the “bigness” it requires?
Once again, no worries. Using every foot of stage available and a stairway set
stage center, Barclay works some magic, making you believe that the dancers are
moving through space twice as large as they really are. Trays, food and dishes
fly and napkins and aprons wave and flutter in a bravura sequence worthy of
comparison to that of any of the show’s Broadway productions.
Tony Sheldon and Klea Blackhurst. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.
Goldstein, Jones and Barclay were also obviously committed
to keeping this show moving, and it does. Scene changes take mere moments and
the cast members seem to appear here, there and everywhere, often in different
costumes, as if they have been transported, which means that backstage, where
space is also limited, there has to be a feeling of controlled chaos.
As for the performances themselves, there’s little more you
can ask for. Blackhurst creates a Dolly that’s all her own, yet with just than
a touch of Merman and a pinch of Middler thrown in for good measure. That Dolly
is as delightfully manipulative as she is owes a lot to the show’s Horace
Vandergelder, Tony Sheldon (on his first appearance you quickly check your
program to see if, perhaps, Goodspeed has somehow gotten Christopher Plummer to
play the role). Sheldon is a master of the slow burn, the double-take and the
startled shuffle, all of which he employs to great effect.
In support, there’s Ashley Brown as Irene Murphy, an actress
who lights up the stage with her eyes and her smile, and Vandergelder’s two
clerks, Spencer Moses as Cornelius Hackl and Jeremy Moss as Barnaby Tucker, who
are both engagingly naïve.
However, the show is Blackhurst’s to own, and she does, no
more so than in the lead-in to the courtroom scene when she is able to get
extended laughs by disregarding all others on stage as she blithely devours an
ear of corn…and then some dumplings. The moment is priceless.
Goodspeed’s “Hello, Dolly!” is the perfect show to make you
forget about the oppressive heat and humidity. It’s light, frothy and a whole
lot of fun.
“Hello, Dolly!” runs through Sept. 8. For tickets or more
information call 860-873-8668 or go to www.goodspeed.org
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