Well, hello, Imelda, it’s so nice to have you back where you belong – and where Dame Imelda Staunton truly belongs is fronting a classic musical. She has already won three Olivier Awards for her work in Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd and Gypsy and is an absolute shoo-in to add a fourth for her megawatt star turn in this revival of Jerry Herman’s warm-hearted and tuneful 1964 show. I have never seen Staunton be better than this.
The Palladium stage is cavernous, but the diminutive Staunton commands it utterly, whether in the big showpiece numbers or quiet and intimate moments in which she conveys an aching sense of poignancy and loneliness. From Dolly Levi’s very first line – “I have always been a woman who arranges things” – we know that we are in for an evening of fun. With her rouged cheeks and jaunty hat, Staunton makes us feel as though we have known this ebullient, irrepressible life force for a very long time.
Herman based his piece on Thornton Wilder’s 1954 play The Matchmaker, and make matches, not to mention mischief, is exactly what the widowed Dolly does. Her latest client is the crotchety “half-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder (Andy Nyman, impressive); Dolly, a woman with a business card for every eventuality, had been intending him for wistful milliner Irene Molloy (Jenna Russell, excellent), but in a sudden change of heart decides upon him for herself.
Chatting away to her beloved late husband, she explains that it is time for her to take the plunge on life and love again. Cue the first of Herman’s anthemic showstoppers, “Before the Parade Passes By”. Credit too to Michael Stewart’s sparky book, stuffed as it is with deliciously quotable lines: “It’s no use arguing – I have made up your mind.”
If the first half of Dominic Cooke’s stylishly accomplished production makes us settle back happily to enjoy this unashamedly old-fashioned musical, the second half is startlingly, stratospherically fine. All plot strands come to a head in upmarket New York restaurant the Harmonia Gardens, where elegant waiters in burgundy velvet jackets (dreamy choreography from Bill Deamer) greet Dolly as she descends the sweeping staircase to the strains of the iconic title number.
What an entrance Staunton makes, radiant in an emerald satin ballgown and with peacock feathers in her hair. “Wow, Dolly, look at the old girl now, Dolly,” she sings in a benign daze, as Dolly holds the entire restaurant in raptures and Staunton does the same for this 2,286-seat theatre. I have an immense dislike of mid-show standing ovations but, goodness, this one is merited.
It is delightful to be able to say that right here is a landmark theatrical production that will be talked about for years to come. Don’t miss it.
Palladium, London to 14 September (HelloDollyLDN.com)