Hello Dolly, the definitive, feel good play with the theme song that will certainly be stuck in your head, is now playing at Drury Lane Theatre through January 5th. If you are looking for a show to take in over the holiday season, then Drury Lane’s production of Hello Dolly should be on your radar.
Bringing in Broadway heavyweight Karen Ziemba for the classic role of Dolly Gallagher Levi is all the more reason to put Hello Dolly on your holiday wish list. Winner of a Tony Award in 2000 for her performance in the Broadway musical Contact, Ziemba is nothing short of sensational, brimming with charm and exuding loads of confidence while also captivating the house with her prized singing voice.
We go back to America’s “gilded age” in Yonkers, New York where a scheming, but enchanting, Dolly Levi makes her living Meddling”, or more simply put, matchmaking. Though hired to find a wife for Horace Vandergelder, a grumpy but wealthy business owner, it soon becomes apparent that she plans to marry him herself. Horace wants a wife because “It Takes a Woman” to happily do all the chores around the house. Dolly pretends that she will be setting Horace up with a hat shop owner in New York City, Molly. But Horace’s overworked store clerks, Barnaby Tucker and Cornelius Hackl, also decide to spend a night in New York City where they can have a good meal, spend all their money, almost get arrested and maybe even kiss a girl. Dolly is quick to recommend Molly to Cornelius and recommends the boys visit her hat shop. From that point on it becomes a madcap adventure as the clerks run into their boss and try to avoid him since they were not supposed to leave the store.
The show’s biggest highlight takes place in a New York City restaurant, Harmonia Gardens, where the waiters perform a stunning dance number (“The Waiters’ Gallop”) before going into the classic song, “Hello Dolly”. It is a show of highly produced song and dance numbers with showtune standards such as “Before the Parade Passes By”, “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”, “Elegance” and the aforementioned “It Takes A Woman” and “Hello Dolly”.
Hello Dolly is a fun show that’s all about understanding and the coming together of people from different walks of life, taming the hard-hearted and seizing opportunity. The story is timeless and it sends a message of simple love. Karen Ziemba is undoubtedly fantastic as Dolly Levi, and her supporting cast is good and strong, with a special hat off to Jeff Diebold as “Cornelius” and Lee Slobotkin as “Barnaby”, who are both not only funny, but also get to show off their own dancing.
Drury Lane Theatre is one of Chicagoland’s best places to see professional theatre productions that are wholesome, ageless and always quality. Hello Dolly is no exception. Tickets starts at $44. For more information visit http://www.drurylaneoakbrook.com/.
