Hello, Dolly! - London Palladium (2024)

Still get goosebumps when I remember walking back after the interval to the stage, at dusk, the set covered with tiny fairy lights. Quite beautiful. 

Have you tried for a row A stalls seat booking ahead?  

I just tried too (for a single admittedly) and got offered Royal Circle J35 which looks to be pretty good…

Thoroughly enjoyed that! A bit of a curates egg in terms of wafer thin story, but I guess it’s just a woman's journey through life…with a few big cheesy tunes thrown in. Nice. £20 seats fine other than the amount of people that have to get out before you!

Oh yes I remember it well (or was it £15?).
Anyway I went many times and met up with lots of board members. In fact, I think we had the whole 2 front rows for the final night (although we had to pay full price).

Saw this last night.

Really great production. Was moderately lavish by today's standards (especially for a limited run) and with a big cast and orchestra. Was surprised to read in programme was produced by Michael Harrison as generally think of him as cheap. But given his recent productions may need to reassess this.

Imelda was great I thought and very natural; the laughs were genuine rather than her playing for gags. Harry Hepple was great too and absolutely leading man material.

The piece itself I thought was average. Can see if you like the golden age of Broadway would be right up your street, but it was a long way in before I became remotely invested in the story. (I have never seen the musical or film so came in blind ish). Didn't really understand why Dolly wanted everyone to meet at the hat shop at the same time, though that did eventually become apparent. Also has the Jenna Russell character always been so much older than the Harry Hepple one?

Also did these matchmaker people actually exist in America whenever it was set? There are some timeless themes but also not much that most younger audiences would identify with I don't think. (And did sit there pondering if you can reinvent these musicals for the next generation like JL did with Sunset. I guess the recent Oklahoma sort of did....)

And when Dolly arrived at the restaurant was unclear why this was such a big thing for all the people that worked here (also could have sworn that had been said 5 mins previously she'd booked the table that the guy she eventually married was at with Miss Money so wasn't sure why her arrival was such a surprise!)

Anyway - it all came together in the end and the title number was fantastic. As is usual for me in this sort of thing though I didn't think the paper thin plot justified the loooooong spoken sections and I was generally desperate for more singing and more dancing!

Score decent but is not banger after banger like (IMHO) My Fair Lady, Anything Goes or 42nd Street. Out of the recent revivals and old school stuff I probs engaged with Crazy For You more, daft though it was.

Still, it deserves to do well and I hope it does.

Also a shout out to the perfectly behaved audience. For whatever reason the musicals I love the most seem besieged by audience problems so was lovely to be sat in a more traditional audience (and one that unusually made me feel young).

I was in A1 Dress Circle and after the title number looked round into Stalls and Circle and the smiles and sheer joy on the faces of some of the (mainly older) audience members brought joy to my heart. Hope I'm not becoming sentimental lol. But this is clearly doing something right. Incredible reception.

4.5 star production of a 3 star musical.

Interesting article about Hello Dolly and it says that it won't be filmed because of rights issues. Hope that doesn't mean the same for a cast recording.

deadline.com/2024/07/the-crown-imelda-staunton-hello-dolly-preview-1236006183/

The money speech has always been there. It's basically pulled straight from Thornton Wilder. It's a famous dramatic speech on its own anyway, frequently used for monologues for auditions, etc. Just Leave Everything includes the 'Call on Dolly' sequence which is also part of I Put My Hand In which is used for the Bette Midler recording, so you would have heard elements of it there - including the 'I have always been a woman who arranges things' - this is used in both songs. 

Overall this was an enjoyable show. The set is stunning and the performances across the board were great. Imelda is wonderful, her singing is a bit underpowered which wasn’t the case when I saw her in Gypsy but her comic timing and song interpretations are wonderful. I know it’s still in previews and may change but the choreography for me was a let down. For such a big cast, there were moments where the stage looked pretty bare especially during some of the dance numbers. It also feels like the brilliant orchestra are underpowered in some of the numbers as you can audibly hear the dancers feet, maybe it’s a choice but it feels like numbers that look like they’re about to sore kind of fade out. Even Hello Dolly had a really slow build and as it crescendoed it sort of faded out again. Some interesting directing choices in act 2, pacing is off and will pick up throughout previews but again it felt like such a big stage was left unnecessarily bare at points. There was also a show stop 40 Mins in as someone collapsed in the dress circle. I did enjoy it, Act 1 more than Act 2, it’s a 3.5 / 5 for me. I’ll give it a 4 as it doesn’t deserve a 3. Perfectly enjoyable show.

So Baz says she comes down the staircase in red.. others say green .. what is it??!

Love the mention of a mouse running past- that’s the state of ALW’s theatres for you.

It is on in Britain to be fair!