By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Perrysburg Musical Theatre is pulling out all the stops for its return to the stage.
For its production of “Hello, Dolly!,” that “old trombone” of Broadway musicals, the troupe has packed the stage with singers and dancers of all ages.
It fields a well-appointed orchestra in the pit.
The sets evoke turn of the 20th century New York.
It has plot, subplots, plot twists and giddy business galore.
Most of all, the spotlight is trained on a bigger than life character who fills the stage and serves as drum major for the whole parade.
As usual the company finds the right cast to pull off this ambitious undertaking starting with Lucy Hagedorn as the conniving, charismatic Dolly Levi.
“Hello, Dolly,” directed by Samantha Henry with choreography by Paige Smith, runs Thursday, June 24 through Sunday June 27 on the Perrysburg High School stage. Shows are 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Click for ticket information.
Dolly who gets by through meddling – she always has to know what’s going on – is contracted to find a wife for the Yonkers half-millionaire Horace Van Guilder, played by PMT stalwart D. Ward Ensign.
Strangely, potential wives, including hatmaker Irene Molloy (Jennifer Braun) seem not to be as available or attractive as he hoped.
Dolly of course is behind all this – she eyes Vandergelder as her own catch. She is done with being a widow, she wants her late husband Ephram to let her go, and give her a sign.
Now aside from his status as a half-millionaire, it’s hard to fathom why Vandergelder seems a suitable match. He’s a dour business man who views a wife as someone to make his life easier.
Love though is in the air. The artist Ambrose (Reuben Hagedorn) pines for Vandergelder’s overwrought niece Ermengarde (Addison Balduf), and Vandergelder’s two clerks Cornelius Hackl (Collin Smith) and Barnaby Tucker (Cody Dent) are making time with Irene and her assistant Minnie (Katie Trumbull), respectively. The guys are pretending to be rich, which only gets them into more trouble and adds to the hijinks.
All these flirtations and courtships, as you can imagine, work themselves out. A night on the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, where they serve pheasant and have polka contests, in the linchpin of the show. Rudolph (Alan Owens) drills his staff in preparation for the much anticipated arrival of Dolly. This sets up the title number and routine when Hagedorn’s Dolly makes her grand entrance. As she does the other characters carry on their comic business at screened-in tables on the flanks.
While the whole score is tuneful, it hangs on its two big pivot musical points – the climatic title number and the first act finale “Before the Parade Passes By.” The troupe nails both of them.
Both those numbers show the strength of the orchestra, directed by Gabriel Hagedorn, which even on the Monday before opening night sounded sure and strong – and that will only get better before opening night.
The cast is packed with strong voices. Special note should be made of Braun rich alto that conveys both her character’s maturity and yearning for that flash of youthful passion.
The title number even provides the company with the perfect catchphrase for its production: “It’s so nice to have you back where you belong.”
Even on a Monday night, first dress rehearsal, that sentiment rang true.
