Hello Dolly!

The gauze on opening looked very effective and displayed the dance moves in silouhette. The set in the main was minimalistic and allowed the big cast more room in the chorus numbers.

The lighting and sound were plotted well but could’ve been darker for stage crew’s movement which took the eye from the action upstage in a couple of numbers.

The props worked well and were in keeping with the period and the costumes were stunning and suited the characters.

The dance moves were varied with some nice tap steps thrown in and more importantly played the strengths and weaknesses of the variances in members. Well done to Hannah on her 1st outing as choreographer for the society she grew up in.

The Orchestra sounded great under the baton of David Abendstern who had also worked hard on the harmonies with the cast.

There are too many cast members to mention everyone but the dancers looked great and performed well and the chorus kept in character when on stage. It made a nice change to not try to disguise the waiters as men but dress them as female waitresses who did a great job in the gallop.

In the main the Principals all performed well but some of the accents needed more work and dialogue slowing down for certain performers.

Andrea Loasby played Dolly and looked stunning in every outfit. For me her accent wasn’t New York enough and some numbers felt out of her  natural singing range but it is such a full on role, barely off stage and when she is it’s for a costume change that it was a really good strong  performance.

Paul Dawson made a great Vandergelder (perhaps needed ageing a bit more) with great grumpiness and comic timing. Nice vocals and dance moves and believable annoyance at anybody and everything life throws at him.

Nick Angus as Cornelius and Alison Knowles as Irene Molloy put in fabulous performances and played beautifully opposite each other. Both were engaging and had lovely vocal performances.

For  me Sean Howarth as Barnaby missed many of the subtle comedy moments and was too old to play this role. His accent and dialogue were hard to understand but he tried hard with the harmonies on the vocal numbers. Helen Ireland made a lovely Minnie Fay with nice delivery of dialogue, great comedic touches and lovely vocals which suited the role.

Kath Brady made a great job of Ermengarde, screaming and crying her way across the stage with Jason Jarvis putting in a strong performance as Ambrose opposite.

Overall this was a good show with some lovely performances and a very enjoyable evening.

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