While South Simcoe Theatre is not a large venue, with the audience seated intimately close to the stage, its production of iconic musical Hello, Dolly! made the room feel absolutely grand.
The stellar cast of 14 carried the production like old pros, with some characters marching up the aisles to the stage at several points, making the room feel like the entire space (audience included) was part of the show.
The musical, set in 1890, follows the story of strong-willed matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi (played by Jenny Landry), as she travels to Yonkers, N.Y. to find a match for miserly bachelor Horace Vandergelder (played by Stephen Bainborough) and considers a match for herself.
With original productions of Hello, Dolly! — on Broadway, and a 1969 movie starring Barbra Streisand that won three Oscars, including Best Score of a Musical Picture — the show is known for its epic casts, sets, costumes, and music.
There simply was no room for dozens of chorus singers, dancers, and waiters to choreograph their way around the other actors on stage at South Simcoe Theatre in Cookstown, but kudos to the production team and director Deb Collins for finding a way to bring a large, vaudevillian feel to the show anyway.
The period costumes are fantastic — and we may now need to bring hats with ribbons down the back into fashion once again.
As wonderful as the puffy sleeves, long skirts, classic suits, and handsome hats are — not to mention the perfect props like helium balloons on a string for the parade, and the fanciest umbrellas you have ever seen — it is the characters that really make them shine.
Whether it was nerves or needing a better mix with the volume of the music, their voices were a little quiet at the start of I Put My Hand In and It Takes a Woman, but that did not last for long.
As the cast continued through each song, they seemed to gain even more confidence and their voices grew stronger.
And with characters as brassy as Dolly and Horace in the bunch, strong is necessary.
The entire performances — including costumes, props, and music — of Before the Parade Passes By, and Hello, Dolly! Reprise were memorable standout moments.
Landry makes a wonderful Dolly, with a lovely singing voice and enough spunk to pull off the right amount of sass and unapologetic meddling required for the role.
Bainborough plays a cranky, yet strangely still likeable “half-a-millionaire” and is completely charming in the role.
Landry was actually the only actor in the show to have just one role, with all the others switching at different points. It simply gave the illusion of a grander cast.
That, mixed with cast members moving sets around for the next scene, were actually not that distracting. Despite the lights being on during set changes, this writer even missed one set change altogether as she was focused on the actors still performing.
While the show obviously focuses on its namesake, Stephen Dobby (as Cornelius Hackl) and Olivia Everett (as Irene Molloy) were also quite good.
Everett has an especially lovely singing voice, and the pair of them play well opposite each other as charmers searching for new adventures.
Noah Hollinshead (as Barnaby Tucker) and Sophia Fracassi (as Minnie Fay) were standouts in the musical, both with excellent comedic timing, singing voices, and stage presence.
Holy Cabooses, it was a joy to watch their characters!
There really is much more that could be said about the show.
From the hilarious four women dressed as men with stick-on moustaches, marching off stage with their elbows high; to the forever-sobbing Ermengarde (played by Melody Irish); to one actor in the bunch with serious soprano pipes; to the hilarious, cackling Ernestina (played by Sandy Bishop) — there is a lot to love.
Put simply, South Simcoe Theatre’s Hello, Dolly! is a vibrant, often funny, and charming show not to miss.
HELLO, DOLLY!
WHEN: Until May 19; Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays 8 p.m., and Sundays 2 p.m.
WHERE: South Simcoe Theatre, 1 Hamilton St., Cookstown
TICKETS: $23 (group rate available); Call 705-458-4432 or email [email protected]
