Hello, Dolly! – Shubert Theatre, New York

Hello, Dolly! continues at the Shubert Theatre, New York.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

It’s another lovefest. Bernadette Peters has stepped gingerly into the shoes of matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi, recently vacated by Bette Midler in Broadway’s smash revival of Hello, Dolly!

And Peters bring to the role all the authority, magnetism and variety she has displayed and perfected in a career stretching over five decades – from kewpie doll winsomeness to womanly charm, depth and sexiness along with grand comedic instincts and distinctive vocal prowess (mostly chest voice this time around).

And judging by the performance reviewed, the audience can’t get enough, greeting starts of songs and just about every bit of business with rapturous applause and cheers.

Double takes grow into triple takes and more, as the theatre takes on the ambience of a champion sporting event, with the onlookers urging on the players to score ever more points.

Like Midler before her, Peters and her fans – not to mention the wily promotion and ad campaigns – elevate the show to an event, not simply just a first-class Broadway remounting of a classic musical comedy.

But certainly, the inherent lustre of Jerry Herman’s score, the infectious giddiness of Michael Stewart’s book and the obvious care and well-maintained lavishness of the remounting, under the direction of Jerry Zaks, have much to do with the production’s continued success.

If comparisons have to be made between the production’s two leading ladies, let’s say that Midler was a breezier concoction, while Peters is a bit more calculating as a woman trying to make her way in the man’s world that was New York in the 1880s. Both approaches are valid, when amplified by performing alchemy, a quality that both ladies have to spare.

Along with Peters, newcomers to the cast include Victor Garber, making a welcome return to Broadway stardom after years of busyness on screens large and small, including his turn in the blockbuster Titanic as the shipbuilder responsible for the ill-fated luxury line.

Garber replaces David Hyde Pierce, as Horace Vandergelder, the half-millionaire merchant who’s the object of Dolly’s personal matrimonial ambitions. Garber brings a hint of suavity and a dollop of macho charm to the man without distorting the essential bluster. He makes an appealing target for Dolly’s manipulations.

Another new arrival is Charlie Stemp, delivering a notable Broadway debut after his Olivier Award nomination for his work in the recent West End revival of Half a Sixpence. Stemp plays Barnaby Tucker, one of the two clerks in Vandergelder’s small town store, who decide to take the day off to find adventure in New York City.

It’s essentially a sidekick role, but Stemp makes the most of it, scoring hearty laughs from reaction bits and admiration for his gravity-defying dancing, shown off smartly in reworkings of Warren Carlyle’s choreography. And his goofus American accent gives no hint of his London roots.

Also new to the cast is Molly Griggs as Minnie Fay, the shop girl who captures Barnaby’s eye, despite or maybe because of her hyena-like laugh.

Meanwhile, kudos continue to be due the hard-working ensemble and the remaining principals, who, for the most part, continue to take stage with enthusiasm and joy.

Particularly notable is Gavin Creel, as Cornelius Hackl, Vandergelder’s chief clerk and Barnaby’s mentor. He fills the role with freshness and a truthful vibrancy. When he moves into a musical number, such as the start of ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’, it’s as if he were singing the song for the very first time.

In contrast, the usually impeccable Kate Baldwin’s limning of Mrs Molloy, the hat shop owner who’s a potential bride for Vandergelder, has become a bit patchy, overplaying at times too heavily the farcical elements of the role.

However, all is forgiven when her liquid soprano renders with breathtaking richness the beautiful ‘Ribbons Down My Back’.

Similarly, the grace and liveliness of the production numbers – with Carlyle’s choreography masterfully conjuring the work of Gower Champion, who both directed and choreographed the original 1964 production – make up for the occasional hardening of the show’s many riotous moments.

But never fear, in the show’s climactic title-song number, when Peters appears, a vision of curvaceous red glitter, at the head of the stairs leading into the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, you know without qualification you are in musical comedy heaven.

Ron Cohen