Eager critics get soaked for an irresistible Dolly

It rained during the press night. Since the stage and auditorium are totally open to the sky, everybody got wet. “Hello, brolly,” said a witty colleague. But nobody put up an umbrella. Nobody left. How very British to sit watching a show in the rain; but, at the same time, what greater tribute could there be to Jerry Herman’s tuneful music and witty lyrics, Timothy Sheader’s excellent production, Peter McIntosh’s charming set and pastel coloured costumes, Stephen Mear’s stylish choreography, and, of course, to the actors? Hello, Dolly!, first performed on Broadway in 1964 and the winner of 10 Tony awards, was for a brief time the longest-running musical in Broadway’s history. Michael Stewart’s book was based on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker (1954), which was a reworking of one of his earlier plays, The Merchant of Yonkers (1948), which was based on Johann Nestroy’s Einen Jux Will Es Sich Machen (1842), which, in its turn, was based on John Oxenford’s A Day Well Spent (1853). The role of Dolly was created by Carol Channing, who gave one of the great musical comedy performances of the 20th century. “It’s a dream come true,” said Thornton Wilder. “This is just what I had in mind when I first thought of Dolly Levi.” Channing is so identified with the role that it comes as a shock to learn she was not the first choice. Ethel Merman and Mary Martin were both preferred, but they turned the role down. In New York Dolly has been played by Ginger Rogers, Pearl Bailey (in an all black production), and at the very end of its run, Ethel Merman herself. Barbara Streisand, far too young, appeared in the film. Mary Martin, Dora Bryan, Danny La Rue and Channing played her in London. The story concerns Horace Vandergelder, a mean-minded, grouchy elderly store-owner who wants to get married and employs a matchmaker, Dolly Gallagher Levi, an impoverished Irish widow of a Jewish husband. She has matrimonial designs on him herself.
Samantha Spiro, talking 10 to the dozen, is an irresistible Dolly, warm-hearted and funny. Horace (Allan Corrunder) is absolutely convinced that the last woman in the world he is going to marry is Dolly, but that doesn’t concern Dolly. He hasn’t any say in the matter. The script is a mixture of broad farce and homilies, such as: “Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she’s a householder.” Jerry Herman’s songs are a delight; and not just the famous title song. The score includes “It Takes a Woman”, “Put on Your Sunday Clothes”, “Before the Parade Passes By” and “It Only Takes a Moment”. The tapdancing waiters, choreographed “twice as fast as lightning” by Stephen Mear, are wonderful, an absolute knockout. Spiro has star quality. Hello, Dolly! is a perfect show for the whole family. Act quickly. It closes September 12.
Jerusalem
ROYAL COURT
Is England’s land still green and pleasant? You must be joking, and playwright Jezz Butterworth is the joker. His leading character is a gypsy who lives in a broken-down caravan in the Wiltshire woods. The people living on New Estate want him out. The local council serves an eviction order. He’s been there 27 years offering booze, drugs, loud music, and friendship to under-aged children and immature youths. He’s a fantastic storyteller and gives hilarious accounts of his miraculous birth and a giant he met who claimed he had built Stonehenge. He also describes how he was kidnapped by some Nigerian traffic wardens. Mark Rylance, the finest Hamlet of his generation and former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, has a lot of fun with the role.
Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu
LONDON COLISEUM
It was Bruce Lee who kickstarted the popularity of martial arts in the western world. Kung fu, however, is meant to improve the mind and the body and lead to harmony and enlightenment. It’s also meant to promote peace through physical and spiritual strength. Nobody seeing this Chinese tourist attraction is going to be interested in the poorly told legend. The public will go to be amazed by the acrobatic feats and the furious speed with which they are performed by a large number of highly drilled, ferociouslooking, shaven-headed young men, wielding staves, swords and shields and leaping, twirling, somersaulting and tumbling to the sound of blaring recorded music.
Robert Tanitch