Hello, Dolly! - London Palladium (2024)

You'll be fine

Either option should be fine. You’ll be looking at an angle, but they’re great value at £20.

A3 and A23 are just about okay.

A2 and A24 are the seats to not go near at all, even at £15. You will see nothing. They shouldn’t be on sale at all tbh.

Great to be there and on that thankfully unimpeded for the most part front row and meet fellow Boarders frontroverpaul and ceebee.

As hinted at in the press conference, Cooke and Staunton have mined the depths of Dolly, and the focus (or refocus; scenes have been shifted, and we bizarrely get a double dose of Imelda recreating her Losing My Mind vibe, right down to the set dresser and mirror in both acts) is Dolly’s grief. Her beloved Ephraim has never felt more present than in this production, and it sort of works…and sort of doesn’t.

It could have been first preview nerves, or it could be this take on Dolly, but Imelda seemed very quiet and almost timid as Dolly initially. This makes sense in the opening solo scene (no audience friendly behind newspaper reveal here), but not in the later early scenes. This does (thankfully) break up as the show goes on and gathers momentum, but there’s something joyful lost in, well, her lack of joy.

This is no busy-body, energetic Dolly. Instead one deep in grief, wondering if a new life and new love can be secured for herself.

The evening is still a riot on many levels, but we came away wondering if Dolly is the right role for Imelda. It is, of course, previews, and both she and Nyman’s Vandergelder may yet get away slightly from their current slightly under energised and morose moments. They are in stark contrast to Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce on Broadway a few years back which was a riotous, fast, outrageously fun production.

This one works. But only just.

The supporting casts are wonderful with Emily Langham pushing the other way (thankfully) with the comedy, and nailing it. She is hilarious. And Jenna Russell brings both comedy and heartbreaking stillness, as is her staple, to Mrs Molloy, and it a masterclass.

How will they make their money back on such a limited run (which will start to sell soon, we hope!)? Well, the answer, sadly, but not too sadly, is in the lack of set.

Aside from Vandegelder’s store, we get a mostly empty stage. (The train was fun, but not wow wow, but maybe felt wow wow because there was little else to look at. Even the staircase is a little underwhelming.). There is, however, a very heavily used video screen at the back, for most of the show. The animations are…fine, but not great. This doesn’t matter too much, as it shines focus even more on the great performances. But having “DANCING” in the clouds accidentally comes across as a stage full of people waltzing whilst the smoke from a nearby burning building threatens to kill them all. 😂

The dancing is a mixed bag. At times brilliant, at others a slightly disorienting series of leaps and turns (especially, as noted by others, the waiter dance, which is rather bizarre at the moment: episodic and seemingly unending. The sweat flying off the hard working men is quite something!).

The reorchestrations are wonderful and the orchestra, though not huge, pull them off beautifully.

The mid show standing ovation was sadly inevitable and disappointing. We didn’t join in. Why are we following Americans in this fashion? Save it for the end, cripes. It feels so egotistical of the audience. Is BGT or XFactor to blame too? Anyway…

Front row is an absolute bargain, and aside from the unnecessary lip they’ve added centre stage, they’re a steal. Just do not, for heaven’s sake, pick either seat at the extreme ends of that row. You literally face a block of added stage and wouldn’t see a thing. With that in mind I’d be weary of extreme ends of Row B-D too. But I think it was a relief to all us Boarders sat front row to not only be seeing nostrils! As others have mentioned the dinner booths need restating, as anyone side side of in the boxes would have seen nothing.

The Ensemble are excellent, and work their behinds off.

Is it a totally joyous Dolly? Not yet. And might not be with, as said above, the (inevitable) subdued take they’ve chosen to focus on. Which works, but makes the production as a whole feel slightly unbalanced.

But it’s well worth seeing and sure to be what the Barbican isn’t this year. But book now! Especially for that Row A goodness.

4 stars.

Ps Re sitting in the front row: no distractions, or Apple Watch lights, or people moving their heads non stop, or watching penalties (?!?!?!!) on their phones, or using their phones. Pure bliss. And you get to chat with the orchestra at the interval. So many wins. When it’s as cheap as this!

Clearly the front row does miss more than you think if you feel there wasn't much scenery. From where I sat further back in the stalls there was sets and scenery by the shed load (and a lot more than I was expecting for such a short run).
For me the train was wow! We also had trolley cars, millinery shop both front and back, hotel room, big set for the grain store and I thought the restaurant and staircase was really special. I don't think you always need to have a stage crammed with sets and props to tell a story, sometimes less is more.
I also feel the mid show standing ovation was well deserved and I was one of the majority of people in the stalls who stood (and I'm not American). I doubt it will happen every night, but this was the first preview and many people, like myself, have been waiting and had tickets for this show for several years so it was an iconic and very special moment.

Do people think row C would be OK view-wise for this? Happy to spend £75 but not sure on row C v row R.

You have proved my point perfectly. Thank you!

Me too. I booked the final performance when I booked for last night's performance. I'm so glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed the show yesterday even as part of a midshow ovationing, non-genuine, excitable first preview audience.

There´s a priest in the ensemble, so someone should be getting married at the end...

There's a wedding at the end (which much of the audience thought was the curtain call, but isn't)

(I feel so judged)

Thursday 18th.

There are seats available on LW Theatres’ site if you want to rub shoulders with the glitterati (aka Dr Ranj et al).