Review: HELLO, DOLLY! at The Carnegie

Since its inception in 1964, Hello, Dolly! has become a classic staple of the musical theatre cannon. With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, this adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s play The Matchmaker focuses on one particular Sunday in New York around the turn of the 20th century. The character of Dolly Levi, a masterful meddler, serves as the catalyst for many of the events. When many of her connections in Yonkers make their way down to New York City for one reason or another, they wind up having an unexpected time filled with adventure, whimsy, and love. 

The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky functions as part art gallery, part theatre company, and every winter they present a musical that is fun and family-friendly, allowing for Hello, Dolly! to naturally fit the lineup to close out the current season after their summer series. This production has been greatly anticipated throughout the Cincinnati theatre community, and with the combination of great direction by Joe Bertucci and excellent execution by the rest of the team, it is a fantastic example of how a Golden Age musical should be presented through a local company.

While the American musical is a relatively new art form (if considering the defining mark to be the 1866 musical The Black Crook, which is widely accepted as the first of the medium, we’ve barely passed the point of the sesquicentennial), exponential expansion and defining eras have already led to an idea of what is considered a classic work within the genre. If a show is an immediate hit and audiences flock to it for a long time due to good word of mouth, there is a good chance local companies would like to produce it in their own areas and hope for similar results. As a result, there are endless Hello, Dolly! visions that have existed through countless productions over the past several decades. However, the high quantity doesn’t make any of them any less meaningful, and it is up to each company to decide how to present this show to both new and returning audiences. The Carnegie has a reputation for high-quality theatre, and they certainly met, if not exceeded, their standards.

From a surface level, the production as a whole is very sweet and easily taken in. The costumes are vibrant and the sets are efficiently transformative. Most importantly, the delivery is clean. The ensemble shined in the opening scene as their staccato notes blended well, setting the scene and tone of what to expect. The show was also well-paced and there was never a need for anyone to slow down or speed up their speaking to better understand what was happening. Although these are essential factors in a show’s success from a presentational standpoint, they are not the only reasons why this production worked well.

The turn of the 20th century was a particularly influential era for the future to come, especially in the New York City area. This period was known as the Gilded Age, where excess wealth and poverty became extreme, isolated, and visible on both ends while also leading to rapid growth and a (relatively) more progressive era. Coincidentally, it was a mere two years ago when HBO Max released the new drama The Gilded Age (the second season recently finished airing, and a third is to come) that explores the prominent real characters and other fictional archetypes of that specific lavish community and how they managed themselves in a societal fashion. This show revitalized interest in those stories, making the timing of this production impeccable, and many of these themes are reflected in Hello, Dolly! in a satirical way. For example, there is a scene in which Cornelius Hackl (Jack Manion), a shop clerk from Yonkers, and Irene Molloy (Kara Ann Scullin), a widow looking to move forward in life, meet for the first time in her millinery shop, and Cornelius and his accompanying friend Barnaby Tucker (Matthew Callas) decide to pretend to be rich in order to blend in while trying to escape from their employer, Horace Vandergelder (Allen R. Middleton), who happens to be outside in preparation of calling on Irene himself. But as Irene, who had decided beforehand that she was in a “provocative” mood, plays along as Cornelius struggles with his words, it ends up being a great illustration of how the wealthy were viewed as he attempts an all-important demeanor (but clearly failing quite miserably at it). Later on when the three of them, plus Irene’s assistant Minnie Fay (Aliya Pimental) go out to dinner, they sing about the idea of “Elegance” and even though none of them had ever lived an especially rich life, they imitate the pompousness and self-importance of how the upper-class appears to them during this ever-changing time in history.

Naturally, in a show like Hello, Dolly! only a truly gifted actress and stage performer can do well in the difficult and iconic role as its titular character. Luckily for The Carnegie, they were able to cast from the best of the Cincinnati acting community, and Sara Mackie was bestowed the role of the leading lady Dolly Levi. An esteemed professional actress known for her many performances with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, the Human Race Theatre Company, and the Ensemble Theatre Company, among others, she most recently performed as Bibi the Hippo in Fiona: The Musical at the end of 2023. Over her time as an actress she has taken on an incredible range of roles in both modern and period settings, and in portraying Dolly Levi she takes the challenge head on, accomplishing a performance that is not only hilarious and powerful, but also inspiring and thought-provoking. Dolly, as a character, is a woman who manipulates everyone around her in order to make them fit how she sees them. With her connections and skills, she emulates a typical “I-know-a-guy” character that is able to mysteriously match people up to what (and who) they need. Yet she is also loving, endearing, funny, and always has good intentions. She is independent yet vulnerable, and she can ham up a scene while never being disingenuous. She wants to remarry for money, but only so she can spread it around to help things circulate and grow. Fittingly enough, this was the intention of Andrew Carnegie as he used a great deal of his own fortune to benefit society as a whole through funding charities, foundations, and projects like the building of The Carnegie itself. Mackie has an impeccable acting ability, an amazing comedic delivery, and a strong singing voice to apply to the role of Dolly, and audiences will remember this show because of her presence for long to come.

Hello, Dolly! opened at The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky on February 2nd and is currently running through February 18th. For more information and tickets, visit thecarnegie.com or click the link below.

Photo credit: Mikki Schaffner

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