~ Curious Charlie ~

The Production Company's Hello Dolly! @ Tuesday, July 04, 2017

Friday 9th June

Five minutes till the train leaves? There's always time for a song!

'Put On Your Sunday Clothes' we're off to the theatre this evening! Hello, Dolly! "an ever-green crowd-pleaser. It opened on Broadway in 1964 and won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical – a record it held for 37 years. " is the show of the week, yes I do realize I've been going out every night :P

Why Sunday? Traditionally it's the only day you close shop. Why? To go to church.

Bright, bold and easy to follow we loved it! 1890 is my year (well era), well one of them and we loved the fabulous costumes! From everyday bustles and full covered dresses with pantaloons and petticoats to Dolly's mermaid tailed sequin number! Though my favourite dress would be her heavily embroidered purple dress with that hat and all the feathers!

Is it just me or the restaurant scene, the hat shop girls are dresses as Cinderella? The blue final dress and pink mom's dress.

The music was fantastic too, a fellow theatre goer inn my class says this is his favourite musical. I loved 'Put On Your Sunday Clothes' and was so glad to hear it in the end again! As well as the titular song. What an entrance!

My favourite dance would have been the spectacular Waiters’ Gallop! It's amazing what could be achieved with "sharp choreography onto an unnecessarily tight stage". We left the orchestra on stage took us away from 1890s NYC. As "The orchestra play in the centre of horseshoe-shaped stairs that split the stage into two levels." The stairs were also a huge feature and something The Production Company seems to love.

Oh and I also loved Before the Parade Passes By.

Basic sets fascinate me, as I go for the full detail while everyone prefers the focus on costumes and characters "Shaun Gurton’s set is otherwise limited to silhouetted architectural frames dropping in and out as hints of location, and basic props such as store counters and the restaurant’s potted palms. The cast’s colour and movement is what fills the stage." I too do feel like there was so much colour and vibrancy that the stage was a bit small rather than say, if it set at Her Majesty's.

She wanted to marry for money, but didn't get it in the end??

I loved Mrs Molloy’s Hat Shop! My true passion is theatre (though no longer performing as I did in my youth, my peak was Lady Mb) and hats! If money were no object career wise I might have been a milliner. Alas an arts degree didn't help, career wise either.

There's three sets of characters, main girl Dolly and her guy she's after, the supporting hat shop lady, Cornelius (Glenn Hill) and Irene (Verity Hunt-Ballard), and then another couple that no one can be bothered caring about. Yep. I had a vague idea who they were, the guy's niece "weepy Ermengarde (who wouldn’t cry with a name like that?)" XD and a poor struggling artist. What were they about?

An amazing show that we really really liked (I'm very picky and have very few loves :P). 4/5.

Favourite Quotes

Dolly Levi: Here, let me cut your wings!
Horace: I don't want my wings cut!
Dolly Levi: No man does, Horace, no man does.

Cornelius Hackl: Barnaby, you don't know anything about women.
Barnaby Tucker: Only that we can't afford them.

Cornelius Hackl: I've never touched a woman before.
Irene Molloy: You still haven't. That's my corset.

We'll heat them up and drop them cold.
Good practice for married life.

I never heard of 'Hello Dolly' till we saw part of it in WALLE. Like with 'Funny Girl' the movie musical stars Barbra Streisand. Looking forwards to seeing it and all those costumes!

Melbourne is amazing, perhaps even the theatre capital of the country, though it is easier to compete when there's only two main states in terms of keeping up with home/the Americans. Hamilton and Anastasia will be here perhaps in 5yrs+, we just got the mormans. We are behind on new works, but amazingly we sometimes have the same shows on at the same time. e.g. The Production Company might be a small group, but they're pretty spectacular (especially at $30 :P).

Meanwhile "Bette Midler is currently slaying ‘em in New York in the role, almost certain to take out the Tony for her performance". Back home Elsa played Elphaba and Kristen Chewoworth played Glinda the Good, but only on Broadway. One day we shall make it there!