Hello, Dolly! - London Palladium (2024)

Steve Pemberton has walked by me several times.

Ian Hallard, on the more random scale.

Also royalty sat behind me (in the form of Angela Rippon).

And, further back in the Stalls, if my eyesight doesn’t deceive me, the legend himself, Biggins! I was getting worried.

Saw this tonight on press night and I’m rather deflated.

A totally uninspired production, which struggles with a lead who cannot do justice to her songs and a physical production which is decidedly ugly to look at.

You can’t deny they’ve spent money on this, with an extravagantly large cast and orchestra- but I’d rather they’d saved a few wages there and spent more money on the physical production. It felt like Imelda only had 2 costumes, and Harmonia Gardens looks like a terrible panto set. Clearly money and inspiration ran out by that point.

Apart from sounding vocally weak, Imelda gives, as usual, a classy and moving performance. Full of pathos and humour.
It’s just not the ‘star’ performance this show desperately needs.

The other leads- all fine, nothing special.
No glorious singing here (unlike with Kate Baldwin and Gavin Creel on Broadway)

The dancing is … fine. None of the numbers wows, especially Hello Dolly , which I just cannot forgive.

Compare this with the Broadway production with Bette, where every number was a showstopper and a true star performance at its centre.

I know this is a limited season so restraint is the order of the day, but it’s a very lacklustre evening in the theatre.

2 stars from me.

This show was a total fruit market when I went I think Imelda has catapulted into the queer icon stratosphere with this!

I suppose my rating is probably biased by the fact it was the first time I'd properly seen Hello Dolly (I'd maybe watched the film in an airport hotel some time) and I thought it was incredible, even if the screen at the back doing a lot of the set heavy lifting is the worst part of this production.

The decision to focus on her being a widow throughout makes the show drag, and her performance is kept under a kind of tether by it too. You can feel the control. And that has bled into other performances too.

Set being replaced by that video wall…

You kind of wish everyone watching it could get to see Bette’s the day after.

You're absolutely right MrB - I enjoyed it a lot because of Imelda, but it does feel like they've tried too hard to create something new, when what already existed is so perfect that they should have done that (or done a different show)

THANK YOU Mr Barnaby. Well said.

Just being discussed by Gaby Roslin and guest Sandi Toksvig on the Radio 2 breakfast show. They both went last night and loved it. Said they’d not seen a standing ovation like that in a long time.

Wonder if these things are (even) more enjoyable when you get invited to come along and don’t have to pay?!

We do stand at basically the opening of a fridge door since COVID though....

No it's because all us oldies love the opportunity to stand and stretch our legs after sitting for 2 hours before the arthritis kicks in 😀