Stellar Betty Buckley takes center stage in superb 'Hello, Dolly!' revival
“Hello, Dolly!” - ★ ★ ★ ½
When a star vehicle like “Hello, Dolly!” motors into town with a bona fide Broadway diva like Betty Buckley behind the wheel, you pull over and pay attention.
Director Jerry Zaks' Tony Award-winning 2017 Broadway revival at Chicago's Oriental Theatre is such a vehicle. Sumptuous and invigorating with ebullient choreography by Warren Carlyle and gorgeous rainbow-colored costumes and a postcard-perfect period set by Santo Loquasto, it's an ideal expression of the feel-good musical by composer/lyricist Jerry Herman and writer Michael Stewart.
Based on Thornton Wilder's 1954 play “The Matchmaker” about a 19th-century widow who arranges lives for a living, “Hello, Dolly!” is a wonderfully nostalgic show. With its sprightly, lilting score (beautifully played by 17 musicians under conductor Robert Billig) and book rife with humor and homespun wisdom, “Hello, Dolly!” is a crowd-pleaser.
So is Buckley. Her headlining turn as the national tour's indomitable Dolly Gallagher Levi follows such legends as Carol Channing (who originated the role in 1964 and owned it for years), Pearl Bailey, Ethel Merman, Bette Midler (who received a 2017 Tony for Zaks' revival) and Bernadette Peters who replaced Midler in January 2018.
As is common with stars of her caliber, the audience greeted Buckley enthusiastically. That was before she uttered a note. The performance that followed was applause-worthy indeed.
While the Tony Award-winner's voice sounded a bit strained (as if she were under the weather), her acting was stellar.
Buckley knows how to deliver a joke. Her timing is spot-on. So is her flair for comic business. It's evident late in the show in a scene where Buckley's epicurean Dolly savors the last of her turkey dinner while the other characters stand by like courtiers attending a queen. One of many charmingly staged scenes, it resonates on several levels, which I suspect was Zaks' intent.
Ultimately, Buckley's strength rests with her thoughtful, emotional performance as the widowed matchmaker who after 10 years of “just passing by life” decides to rejoin the parade, which in Zaks' gloriously sung, canny incarnation includes suffragettes.
Buckley's unfailingly authentic performance grounds the production, which features a dynamic cast of singer/dancers and a first-rate leading man in the nicely self-aware Lewis J. Stadlen, who matches Buckley note-for-note and joke-for-joke.
A perfectly convivial curmudgeon, Stadlen plays cranky Horace Vandergelder, a widowed half-millionaire feed store owner from Yonkers, New York, who enlists Dolly Levi's help in finding a wife.
After Horace leaves for New York City to meet a prospective missus, his head clerk Cornelius Hackl (the wonderfully lyrical Nic Rouleau) and best pal Barnaby (the funny, nimble Jess LeProtto) decide to do the same. Accompanied by the jubilant “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” (which will put a smile on your face that remains through the finale) they head off to the city for an adventure.
They find one in a hat shop where they meet reluctant milliner Irene Molloy (the sweet-sounding Analisa Leaming) and her assistant Minnie Fay (a nicely comedic turn by Kristen Hahn). High-jinks ensue when Irene's suitor Horace arrives with the ever-resourceful Dolly, who attempts to hide the young men from their boss.
Eventually, they end up - along with Horace's perpetually distressed niece Ermengarde (Morgan Kirner) and her struggling artist fiance Ambrose (Garett Hawe) - at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, resplendent in gold and red.
Here, following the dazzling, acrobatic-balletic “Waiters' Gallop,” Dolly emerges for the titular showstopper, one of several - including “Dancing” a joyful reminder of the spell music weaves and the possibilities dancing offers and the anthemic “Before the Parade Passes By.”
Really, that's what “Hello, Dolly!” is all about: opportunities and second chances, finding love after loss and joining the parade every time it passes by.
<b>Location:</b> The Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
<b>Showtimes:</b> 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday through Nov. 17. Also 2 and 8 p.m. Oct. 28 and 2 p.m. Nov. 4 and 11
<b>Running time:</b> About 2 hours 30 minutes, including intermission
<b>Tickets:</b> $27-$108
<b>Parking:</b> Paid parking lots
<b>Rating:</b> All ages