Say hello to ‘Dolly’

  • Dale Burrows<br>For the Enterprise
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:35am

Call it ego. Call it meticulous attention to detail. Call it a star search extended to the Mid West. But St. Paul, Minnesota is where Steve Tompkins got the lead he had to have for this season’s Village finale.

Dolly for this “Hello, Dolly!” that showed so well in Issaquah and is now showing at Everett Performing Arts Center, is Peggy O’Connell.

And O’Connell brought the right background to the role.

And she auditioned.

And she’s dynamite.

But the buster of blocks that makes this “Dolly!” a real blockbuster is, you guessed it, he would be the last to say it, Tompkins himself. The actors and dancers power the show’s high energy and sheer physicality. But it’s Tompkins’ directing and Tompkins’ choreography that wire the power.

Say it another way, this is an electrified “Hello, Dolly!” with the voltage turned up on “Hello.”

Think it works?

Watch O’Connell as the dating service in Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” but outfitted from stage farce to musical comedy. She sings Jerry Herman’s Music and Lyrics like an angel. She’s got the qualities of character in Michael Stewart’s Book; namely, a heart like Jell-O and the chutzpah of a garment-industry businessman. She’s a husband-hunting widow from Yonkers, late 1800’s. She won’t take no for answer from anybody else or herself. The best you can hope for is that someone like her won’t sink her hooks into you.

Then there’s John Lowrie as the miserly feed-and-grain storeowner who hasn’t a clue O’Connell’s got him measured for her groom’s wedding tux.

Greg Allen leads Casey Greg in slapstick that slaps them in the face. They are Lowrie’s store help on a runaway holiday in search of girls they are too shy to so much as look at without discombobulating.

Billie Wildrick sings a delicate “Ribbons Down My Back” as a lonely heart looking for its other half.

And Bobbi Kotula rounds out the supporting cast in principal roles as a wily female scheming to get a rich husband.

But for all the match ups and mix ups here, no mention of a Village season finale would be complete without a salute to costume designer, Karen Ledger, and scenic designer, Bill Forrester. They are the ones who create that ethereal thing you can’t quite put your finger on, the ambience that you take in without knowing you do. Here, it emanates out of straw hats and bonnets and parasols and summertime in New York City, 1890’s. Ledger and Forrester are terrific.

As for the ensemble that dances, suffice it to say they are the trademark on Village’s patent for success. What Tompkins feels and thinks, they translate into body language that makes you marvel all the time every time. He probably works them till they get it right or drop. But no doubt, they do it because they want to. At Village, the show’s the thing.

So say “Hello” to “Dolly.” She will welcome you with open arms.

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