AMBROSE: “Tell me, Mrs. Levi, what’s in all this for you?” DOLLY: “A living, Mr. Kemper. Some people paint, some sew . . . I meddle!” Read more …
And so begins a whirlwind journey around New York city at the turn of the 20th century in the footsteps of America’s most celebrated matchmaker, Dolly Levi: glamorous, wise-cracking, indomitable - and with a heart of gold. Her mission? To bring love and companionship to those who need it most, be they store clerk or artist, milliner or heiress . . . or even the boisterous ‘half-a-millionaire’ Horace Vandergelder, who for some reason seems to put more of a spring in Dolly’s step than any of her other clients.
Following our spectacular productions of Kiss Me, Kate and My Fair Lady, we open the 2013 Summer Season with yet another multi award-winning Broadway classic: Hello Dolly! This colourful, exuberant and wildly funny adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s comedy The Matchmaker - itself a big hit at PFT in 2003 - is packed with fabulous songs by the great Jerry Herman (Mack And Mabel, Mame and La Cage Aux Folles), while Michael Stewart’s book celebrates generosity, romance and the sheer joy of life itself. Tuneful, irrepressible, unmissable!
A spectacle with the wow factor.
Despite a fine, deep-voiced central performance from Basienka Blake as Dolly, this show finally lacks the real engine-power that might lift it out of the ordinary, make it look like something more than a minor Broadway musical, 50 years old, and increasingly out of time.
There are musicals of greater import, and some with more momentous songs, but this one whips through the theatre like a summer breeze.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Pitlochry from Saturday June 1, 2013, until Saturday October 19, 2013. More info: www.pitlochry.org.uk
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