Beth Leavel as Dolly

[nsguy45]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 3:30pm

Superb 'Dolly' dazzles at Cape Playhouse

DENNIS — It is hard to imagine a better production of "Hello, Dolly" in any venue anywhere — including, but not limited to, the Great White Way — than this one done right here on Cape Cod.
At Cape Playhouse, producing artistic director Evans Haile and director Mark Martino have assembled an extraordinary team of directors, designers, musicians, 26 professional actors and a Broadway star to mount the beloved 1977 American musical. While you would have every right to expect a superior production there, what you will find is a superlative one.

While Broadway might supply more special effects, scenic designer Paul Tate Depoo III, costume designer Gail Baldoni and lighting designer Christopher S. Chambers have combined their talents to provide as elegant a theatrical spectacle — under Martino's direction — as one could want on the playhouse's intimate stage. America of 1890s is charmingly recalled in all its excess.

But the striking costumes and sets don't overwhelm the top-rate performing talent. After all, live theater is about live actors who make this show fresh daily, and it is the extraordinary level of performance that makes this "Hello Dolly" special.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this outstanding production is the choreography and its execution. Choreographer Michael Lichtefeld's numbers are imaginative, challenging and fun, and the talented dancers are up to the task. The six male dancers are simply breathtaking in several numbers, including the title song. This level of theatrical dance is as good as it gets. Period.

While the plot is just a set-up for scenes and numbers, "Dolly" does provide memorable characters. There are three primary couples of different maturity who wend their way past numerous obstacles to find love during the evening's antics. The comic teenage couple, Barnaby and shopgirl Minnie, are played by Eric Mann and Jennifer Cody. Mann does all the big takes and shtick required as Barnaby, and Cody uses her comedic skills and timing to make hers the funniest character in the show.

The older, more romantic couple is Cornelius Hackl and milliner Irene Malloy. These two are dexterously played by Sam Strasfeld and Natalie Charle Ellis. Strasfeld does an excellent job as actor/singer/dancer, and walks the fine line demanded by playing a naive young man who finds love "in a moment" on his first trip to New York from his home way out in Yonkers. Ellis has an extraordinary vocal instrument, and is completely beguiling in numbers such as "Ribbons Down My Back."

The mature couple is Horace Vandergelder and Dolly Gallagher Levi, the "Matchmaker." The curmudgeonly central male figure is played by veteran actor/director James Brennan. He has wisely chosen to not fall into cartoon buffoonery and rather keeps his character real. His restraint and detailed performance helps this sprawling and complex story to stay grounded.

But after all is said and sung, "Hello, Dolly" is the star vehicle that helped to make Carol Channing a musical theater legend. Tony Award-winning actress Beth Leavel ("The Drowsy Chaperone") here makes her own wonderfully complex Dolly, equally at home confiding to the audience in soliloquies or asides, or taking over the stage in her songs, dances and scenes. This "star vehicle" of a show has found a new star in Leavel to take the wheel.

If you are lucky enough to score a ticket to this production, be on the lookout for amazing and imaginative musical theater ideas and execution, particularly in the surprising "Motherhood March." Enjoy the full-theater, big chorus, costume-extravaganza experience of "Before the Parade Passes By."

And as to the signature number, "Hello, Dolly" ... well, to update to contemporary parlance, OMG!

[morosco]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 3:35pm

...the beloved 1977 American musical.

WTF??

[azeller]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 5:08pm

I really wish I could see this!!! I'm sure Beth is fantastic as Dolly!

[ValentineLaMar]

Posted: 8/7/13 at 6:58pm

nsguy -

You just posted copyrighted material. That's called copyright infringement, and it's against the law.

A link to the copyrighted review is below.
Cape Cod Times: Superb 'Dolly' dazzles at Cape Playhouse

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 8/8/13 at 8:59pm

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Updated On: 8/8/13 at 08:59 PM