By Kathryn Olsen
At Salt Lake City‘s Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company‘s Hello, Dolly! will be delighting audiences with its timeless music and relevant story. Its leading lady, Paige Davis, who will be recognizable to fans of stage and television alike, granted an interview in advance of this exciting new production.
Kathryn: We are here with Paige Davis, the star of the upcoming production by Pioneer Theatre Company of Hello, Dolly! You may know her from Broadway and Trading Spaces as well as some commercial efforts. Hello, Paige, and thank you so much for doing this with us.
Paige: Oh, my pleasure, thank you.
Kathryn: In looking over your career, I see that you’ve played Roxie in Chicago, Charity in Sweet Charity, and other roles. Are complicated female leads something you’re drawn to or just what you are typecast as?
Paige: I think I’m drawn to dance roles. What all those women have in common is that they’re extremely strong dancers and dance is my first love. I also think I really have good comic chops, too, and all of those roles have very good comic ability, so that’s really what I’d say is similar stuff.
Kathryn: For this upcoming production, can you give some background on Hello, Dolly! for people who may not be as familiar with it?
Paige: Hello, Dolly! is a magnificent, old-fashioned war-horse of a musical, with some of the musical theater canon’s greatest, most memorable, and most beloved songs of all time. “Hello, Dolly!” itself was an actual pop hit in its day when the show came out. My most favorite musical theater song of all time is “Put On Your Sunday Clothes.” In fact, my husband (Patrick Page)and I sing it all the time; we change the lyrics. We sing “Put on your comfy pants when you feel down and out” all the time. “Before the Parade Passes By” is one of the most iconic ballads of all time. It’s just that every song in it is one that people know and love. It’s a beautiful showabout returning to life and remembering to live life, remembering to not let life pass you by and cherish every moment that is before you. To never take it for granted because life is not promised. Our lead, Dolly, is a widow. She lost the love of her life. Life is not promised, so if you have it, you can’t let it go. You can’t let it pass you by of your own accord, right? If you’re alive, then you have to live.
Kathryn: What was the process of getting involved in this production? Did you audition or were you asked to perform in it?
Paige: My manager actually reached out to them, unbeknownst to me, at my husband’s suggestion. It was my husband, Patrick Page, who Salt Lake audiences know and love. He had seen me play in Mame. It’s another big role I play—Mame–and another Jerry Herman diva, if you will, and he had gotten the idea then and had been looking on his own for theaters that were getting ready to do a production. He had noticed that Pioneer was and he knew that I had a real relationship out here with audiences because of my connection to R.C. Willey. He thought this could be a really beautiful moment for people to see me in a different way and to see me in my truer element. He didn’t want me to be hurt, disappointed, or sad, and he was kind of on a secret mission. He reached out to his manager on my behalf and they said that they were interested. So I got an e-mail from Josh, the manager, saying, “Pioneer Theatre is doing Hello, Dolly! Is this something you might be interested in?” I responded with, “Oh, my gosh! Patrick and I have been discussing this for years and I’d love to do it!” He wrote back just one thing: “I know.” Then, I had a meeting with Karen Azenberg and as we spoke, we talked about the show and we felt that we were very much on the same page with what this show is now and who Dolly is. She felt comfortable enough to say, “Come aboard!” and I felt very lucky.
Kathryn: I know you said that you and Patrick had been discussing doing this for a couple of years. Have you played this before or done any other productions of it?
Paige: I did a production of Hello, Dolly! when I was eighteen years old in summer stock theater in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. I played Irene Molloy.
Kathryn: That’s another great role.
Paige: At the time, I couldn’t imagine ever being old enough to play Dolly. And, suddenly, I am. I’m 52.
Kathryn: On the one hand it’s a very well-earned age. On the other hand, do you have any insights, having played someone completely different as opposed to playing the lead role now at the age of 52?
Paige: No, I think my perspective on the role is entirely related to my whole life. Not like 52 is that old—people are going to read this article and think, “Shut up, Paige.” I don’t think I’m ancient and have massive amounts of wisdom at 52, but I do feel that I’ve lived enough to know what it means to stop living. And I’ve lived enough to know what it means to see other people starting out their lives and being happy, and I’ve lived enough to see others coming up behind me and wanting to do well. So I can really relate to that aspect of Dolly—she is a matchmaker. This whole musical is based on a play by Thornton Wilder called The Matchmaker. That’s what it’s from and that’s who she is. She’s a meddler and a manipulator and she’s very much a salesman, but very much where the ends justify the means. She’s not a con artist; she’s got love as her main goal from start to finish.
Kathryn: What has it been like working with this director and what has it been like preparing for the rehearsals and the role?
Paige: It’s been wonderful. Preparing for the role, I haven’t done it any differently than any other role that I’ve done. Start at the beginning. Here’s the script, what does it say? What are the grander themes that resonate in this story and what is my spoke in the wheel of this story that needs to be told? You go through each scene and decide, “What do I need? Why do I need it? And how do I get it?” Then, you act and you live that. I really had to focus on the simple things because I couldn’t get swept up in projecting the iconic nature of the role. You have to be it, do it, and start from scratch. If you’re trying to be something before you’ve built it from the ground up, it’ll just be shallow. The magnitude of the iconic nature of this role is not lost on me, but my approach was to start from scratch, build from the bottom up, and let the material raise me to that place. And it’s a blast to do.
Kathryn: I can imagine. Other than the iconic songs you’ve already mentioned, are there any that are your favorites or have become favorites throughout this production?
Paige: They’re all amazing. I mean, there’s not a bad song in the bunch and they’re all great.
Kathryn: Since this play is set around the turn of the 20th Century, are there any themes that feel particularly relevant today? I know that a lot of us are looking for ways to start living again after the experiences of the pandemic.
Paige: Yes, that’s exactly right! What Dolly is doing, by rejoining life and rejoining genuine human connection, not trying to connect other people, is rejoining the human race with all the vastness of her emotion, all of her feelings, and the lack of fear and total abandon. She’s been suppressing that abandon in her grief and in her sadness and that very much reflects and mirros what is happening in our county and in the world right now. We can, to a certain extent, understand what it means to come out of a cocoon. I feel that this show couldn’t be more relevant than it is right now. And also, we need some joy, just some sheer joy. It is joy on the stage.
Kathryn: Are there any behind-the-scenes things that you’d like to point out to people coming to the show as somethng might enjoy noticing?
Paige: I think what they see on the stage is plenty enough. I mean, every time they rehearse what is called “The Waiters’ Gallop,” I catch my breath. The passing of the cups and plates and the jumps and the leaps, it’s just, like, “Whoa!”
Kathryn: As someone with your background in dance, that must just be fun to watch.
Paige: It’s amazing to watch. You know what? Listen to whether or not I’m cheering in the wings. So far, I haven’t been able to suppress it, but we haven’t had an audience yet as we’re still in dress rehearsals, so I haven’t had to be disciplined. I say to students all the time that, “The way you rehearse is the way you’ll perform” and I’m starting to get nervous that I should start rehearsing as thought there’s an audience out there.
Kathryn: Finally, do you have any future projects that we can be in the know about?
Paige: Well, yeah. It might be a little bit difficult for Salt Lake audiences to get to Pittsburgh, but I’ll leave here and I’ll play the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera.
Kathryn: I remember reading that you’d worked with them before.
Paige: I’ve done Maria in The Sound of Music and Abigail in Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage.
Kathryn: Are you planning on performing with your husband, as we’re fans of Patrick as well?
Paige: No, nothing on the books for now.
Hello, Dolly! is in town until May 28, so put on your Sunday clothes and hurry to the box office before the parade passes by for an unforgettable night.
Pioneer Theatre Company Presents Hello, Dolly!; Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman, Book by Michael Stewart, based on The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder.
Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 1400 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.
May 13-28, 2022, 7:30 PM. See website for individual dates and times.
Tickets: $48-72
www.pioneertheatre.org
Contact: 801-581-6961
Pioneer Theatre Company Facebook Page
Great interview! Gives me a new appreciation for what they’re show is.