Hello, Dolly!
16 July 2024
London Palladium
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
The show that almost didn’t happen due to Covid, Hello, Dolly! is currently running at the Palladium and what a show it is!
This is pretty much exactly what non-theatre goers imagine a musical to be. It’s bright, it’s cheerful, it’s silly. But it is also so very joyful! The quintessential musical feeling persists throughout the entire show, and despite it’s very old fashioned themes, it’s just such a fun show to watch.
Dolly Levi is a matchmaker who is also in the business of being in everybody’s business. She can sort whatever you need, but when she travels to Yonkers to make a match for “half-a-million-aire” Horace Vandergelder, she decides that it is time to make a match for herself and step back from being a widow trying to make ends meet.
Imelda Staunton is formidable in the role, playing up the cheekiness of Dolly and grasping the audience from the second she appears on stage. There’s just so much charm and love of life poured into Dolly, it is a joy to watch. The whole show is so cheeky and full of hope, we couldn’t help but smile through the entire performance.
Seeing an older cast live it up on stage was also a delight, especially the dance ensemble that brought so much energy to each number. With a simple but effective stage design that was dominated by a moving walkway that brought an active dynamic to the staging, it’s visually quite simple but effective.
If you want a feel-good, not too serious, mistaken identity, lessons on embracing life and love kind of show, this is the one for you!
