By Kathryn Olsen
In Salt Lake City, Pioneer Theatre Company is wrapping up its 2021-22 season with Hello, Dolly! at the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the University of Utah campus. This 1964 musical by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart is based on Thornton Wilder‘s 1938 The Merchant of Yorkers, later retitled The Matchmaker. As leading lady Paige Davis says, it is “a magnificent, old-fashioned war-horse of a musical, with some of musical theater canon’s greatest, most memorable, and most beloved songs of all time.” I had seen the Academy Award-winning movie adaptation, but the only in-person staging I had seen was a high school theater production back in Massachusetts, so I was thrilled to find myself in the audience on opening night of this professional version.
As the play opens the audience meets Ambrose Kemper (Myles Tracy Woolstenhume), a struggling artist who is in love with the niece of Horace Vandergelder (Kris Coleman), a well-known half-a-millionaire who is himself looking for a second wife. Enter Dolly Gallagher Levi (Paige Davis), whose many talents and occupations include matchmaker. She is determined to see a happily-ever-after for Ambrose and Ermengarde (Hannah Balagot), but has to contend with the fact that Horace refuses to give his consent to the marriage. He is also a client of hers, not knowing that she intends to convince him to marry her in the end. These misadventures are accompanied by Cornelius Hackl (Alexander Mendoza) and Barnaby Tucker (Michael J. Rios), two clerks from Horace’s store who decide to go to New York for one night to fall in love, and the objects of their attentions, Irene Molloy (Kelly McCormick) and Minnie Fay (Dori Waymer). Whether anyone will get a happy ending is anyone’s guess and the convoluted plot is hysterically entertaining.
Davis is simply a joy to watch. The role demands that she be a small-town busybody who enjoys meddling at some times, while she steals the show when appreciated for her ability to see the larger picture. Davis’ background with comical roles certainly serves her well, as her role involves a lot of misdirection and letting people come to her conclusions as though they are her own. This is balanced with the quieter ambition of rejoining the human race and waiting for a sign from her late husband that she has his permission to move past her grief and those moments in which she pauses for emotional introspection are profoundly moving.
Coleman’s Horace is farcically strong-willed and single-minded. The success of all storylines depends on his being circumvented or bamboozled and Coleman never breaks character in this regard. His best moments are in his absurd manifesto, “It Takes A Woman,” and the chaotic events at the Harmonia Gardens that lead to most of the cast being arrested for inciting a riot. His story has the most growth and the most satisfying resolution, however, and it takes an actor as skilled as Coleman to convincingly plant the seeds of the ending in the beginning.
Mendoza and Rios have to be considered together as they are inseparable onstage and unforgettable in their roles. If these two were placed on the moral alignments chart, they would be unmistakably described as chaotic good, whether destroying tinned tomatoes en masse to give themselves a night off from work or talking their dates into elegantly trudging up 14th street so they have enough money for a lavish dinner of stale bread and cheese. Mendoza plays Cornelius with an earnest enthusiasm and confidence. Meanwhile, poor Barnaby is ill-suited to change and audacity, but his efforts to get out of a rut are marvelous. Both are excellent dancers who make comical use of every space they inhabit.
Similarly, Waymer and McCormick are excellent partners in crime. Minnie’s clear admiration of her employer is well-portrayed by Waymer so that her actions and attitudes put her on the path to succeed, while her individual quirks are fodder for amusement.
Irene, like Dolly, is looking for a return to the person she was who could look for love and her journey is an emotionally captivating one as she takes control of her happiness. McCormick shines in moments of vulnerability, such as the lyrical “Ribbons Down My Back.”
Ambrose and Ermengarde appear the most infrequently of the couples on stage, principally because of their attempt to sneak behind Horace’s back, but are diverting in their appearances. Balagot spends most of the play in hysterics, but is winsome and clever when given the opportunity to see hope on the horizon. Woolstenhume’s slightly-nervous dedication to achieving his goal is a major factor in why the audience is hoping for a happy outcome.
The more minor characters are well-cast. Ernestina Money (Niki Rahimi) is played to great effect by someone who embraces the appalling and caricatured nature of a character whose main purpose is to be off-putting. Lenny Daniel plays Rudolph, who is exacting with his waitstaff and effusive with his love for Dolly upon her arrival. Best of all is the rotating cast for the Judge, in which Pioneer Theatre Company is working with special guests. Opening night was graced with a cameo by Dr. Martell L. Teasley, the Interim Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Utah. The judge will also be played by Dr. Angela Dunn, Executive Director of Salt Lake County Health Department; Broadway star Babs Delay, State Senator Luz Escamilla, and Fox 13‘s on-air reporter Ben Winslow.
The ensemble works very well in sync, but the directing efforts give many members outstanding moments to perform a smaller role. They strut with Horace when he holds forth on the need for every woman to be the household handyman. They accept Dolly’s matchmaking help during “Call On Dolly.” And they unite for the purpose of finding joy during such large-scale numbers as “Before the Parade Passes By” and “The Polka Contest.”
Director/Choreographer Karen Azenberg and Musical Director/Conductor Phil Reno have collaborated in a spectacular that is truly worthy of this iconic musical. The Scenic Design by James Noone builds around the characters so that Ambrose is seen with an easel on an empty stage at first, but then has Yonkers come into being around him as the scenery shifts and becomes anything from Vadergelder’s store to the Harmonia Gardens ballroom. Eduardo Sicangco‘s costume design is period-appropriate, but the styles and color palettes are an expression of sociology on stage, portraying personality or position with the fit of a skirt or simplicity of a suit. Hair and Makeup Design by Samantha Wootten covers the bouncing curls of some and the reserved buns of others, the debonair affectations of one character and the working-class mien of a protester. Similarly, Cat Tate Starmer designed the lighting to set the ordinary apart from the unimaginably extraordinary so that the audience and cast are both invigorated by the lights of New York City. Associate Director/Choreographer Lenny Daniel manages a storyline that demands both intimate moments between two people and a community uniting for various causes and the Waiters’ Gallop is so complex and lively that it is astounding that it goes off without a single dropped plate. The show is infused with endless energy and the Sound Design by Aaron Hubbard plays a significant role in this. It is all directed skillfully by Prodduc tion Stage Manager Mary P. Costello.
Hello, Dolly! will be playing through the 28th of May, so there is plenty of time to put on your Sunday clothes, wear ribbons down your back, and hurry to the box office to enjoy this phenomenal production.
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
0 Comments