As the curtain rises on ‘Hello, Dolly!’ at the decadent London Palladium, it’s clear the audience is here for one thing: Imelda Staunton, who takes on the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in the musical by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart. On press night for Romeo & Juliet at the nearby Duke of York’s Theatre, Tom Holland’s arrival on press night was met by a whoop from the audience and so too is Staunton’s appearance here. Though the demographics are entirely different, their reactions to their stars are, seemingly, the same.
There are more than a few meta winks and nods to the audience’s presence during the show, Staunton practically coming out of character to acknowledge us – as if she wants us to know that she knows we’re there for her. And, to be fair, she looks like she’s having the time of her life as Dolly as she enjoys the spotlight.
Dolly is a widowed New York matchmaker who has decided it is time to find a match for herself and she has her eyes on the ‘half a millionaire’ Horace Vandergelder (Andy Nyman) – if she can convince him to ask her to marry him. The musical is written solidly within that old ‘romantic’ tradition of one person pursuing another until the pursed eventually gives in to ‘love’ – wear them down is the message. A subplot follows Horace’s staff members Cornelius (Harry Hepple) and Barnaby (Tyrone Huntley) as they take off on an adventure around New York with Irene (the excellent Jenna Russell) and Minnie (Emily Lane) in tow.
Staunton’s performance is a joy throughout. Very occasionally her voice falters, but, for the most part, it soars. The production that director Dominic Cooke surrounds her in is a truly lavish affair as he makes the most of the Palladium’s huge stage, with set designer Rae Smith even conjuring a train on the stage boards. It’s a musical that does begin to bow under the weight of itself in the second act as, with little plot to tie up, we’re hit with lengthy dance and musical numbers that add little to the story, despite the spectacle they offer.
You could describe the production as ‘old-fashioned’ (others might go as far as saying it is dated) despite modern flourishes like an overused travelator and digital backdrops. This is partly due to the staging but it’s also in the inherent nature of its content. There are similarities to ‘My Fair Lady’, whose original Broadway run closed less than 18 months before ‘Helly, Dolly!’ opened in January 1964. Approached in the wrong way and they can both feel a little problematic. Musical numbers Let a Woman in Your Life from ‘My Fair Lady’ and It Takes a Woman from ‘Holly, Dolly!’ hold the same sexist undertones that reflect the period in which they were written, even if the songs have conflicting views on the desirability of a woman’s apparent need to involve themselves in every aspect of a man’s life and home.
And then there is Dolly’s approach to ensnaring Horace. You could go as far as pegging Dolly’s techniques as a pre-curser to Neil Strauss’s controversial pick-up manual The Game as she effectively mentally beats Horace into submission. Switch the genders and we would hear more complaints about the musical or, at the very least, painstaking attempts by any revival directors to ‘correct’ it, as is often the case with productions of My Fair Lady – see the 2022 West End revival and the more recent Leeds Playhouse production as cases in point. There is a little bit of that here – the men who sing of a woman’s place at home are carted off by their spouses at the end of the number
That said, the audience at this performance has little qualms about such things. Each musical or dance number is met with rapturous, vigorous applause. It’s because, in the same way that Staunton knows we’re there for her, the production knows its audience too – and yes, it might be a little dated (and little long) but isn’t it a rare unashamed spectacle with a star at its heart.
Hello, Dolly! is at London Palladium until 14 September 2024
