Hello Dolly

It is lovely to see a society performing one of the more classical musicals, and an opportunity for me to see a show that I last saw in 1992!

This was quite a small cast but appropriate for the stage at this venue which does have some limitations.  One or two members of the ensemble could have had more lively facial expressions but, in the main, they performed well.  The Principals were well cast; Anne Horemans made an imposing Dolly, although some of the songs were slightly outside her comfortable vocal range, so we didn’t always get the full impact of the character.    Nic Graham and David Corder were excellent as Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker.  They made a great partnership and we got the sense of fun that is so important for these two characters.  Jeremy Martin (Horace Vandergelder) was also well cast although he had a tendency to speak most of his lines to the audience and not to his co performers.  This meant that we heard him clearly but there was a bit of a disconnection in the action on stage.

I would particularly compliment Kerry Elliot (Ermengarde) and Kirsty Elliott (Minnie Faye).  Both of whom produced terrific characterisations and were clearly comfortable on stage.  There were also nice performances from Will Trapp (Ambrose Kemper) Sarah Cuff (Mrs Irene Molloy) and Sue Elliott (Miss Ernestine Money).  Other speaking parts were played by members of the ensemble who doubled and (sometimes) tripled their characters; such is the need in a small company.

As is often the case, nowadays, the lack of males willing to go onstage has an impact, especially in shows like this which really need a number of male dancers.  The (normally) male chorus for the title song, Hello Dolly, was exclusively ladies but they looked good and performed well.   The small orchestra, under the direction of MD Barbara Pountney gave excellent support to the singers.

Scenery was excellent, I am a fan of one of the scenic designers used in this production (Paul Lazell) and his back cloths are always immaculate. Costumes were simply outstanding, I tried to find the name of the supplier but it does not seem to be in the programme, although there is a credit for Shirley Harris so well done if she supplied them.  As a costume specialist myself I appreciate the effort that went into the co-ordination of gloves, hats etc to the dresses.  It is these details that can make (or break) the look of a production, in IMOG’s case it definitely made it for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Ingatestone and I look forward to the next production.

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