Brassy "Hello, Dolly!" Pulls Out All the Stops by Nat Frothingham The Montpelier Bridge, July 23, 2004

The curtain call after a recent performance of "Hello, Dolly!" Staff photo.

The big, splashy, song-and-dance Broadway musical "Hello, Dolly!"- set in New York in the 1890s - is currently playing at QuarryWorks on the grounds of the Adamant Music School. "Hello, Dolly!" with book by Michael Stewart and music & lyrics by Jerry Herman first opened at New York City's St. James Theater on January 16, 1964 with Carol Channing in the title role. "Hello, Dolly!" went on to win 10 Tony awards. It became one of Broadway's longest-running musicals and was eventually made into a successful, multi-million-dollar Hollywood film starring Barbra Streisand. "Hello, Dolly!" based on American playwright Thorton Wilder's 1955 comedy, "The Matchmaker," tells the story of Horace Vandergelder, a rich hay and grain merchant from Yonkers, New York who hires a matchmaker, Mrs. Dolly Levi-Gallagher to find him a suitable wife. As the story un-olds, it turns out that the beautiful, spirited and meddlesome Dolly, who is herself a widow, is looking for another husband. And she has her eyes firmly fixed on Mr. Moneybags, that is, Mr. Vandergelder. As things play out, Vandergelder never really has a chance. Early in the production, in a cleverly written and tuneful song,"It Takes a Woman," we find out why Vandergelder after piling up an enormous fortune, now wants a wife. In the Adamant production Vandergelder is played convincingly by Jonathan Herz as a pretty mean fellow with a sharp eye for making a buck but with very limited social intelligence. Here's what Vandergelder wants in a woman. It takes a woman all powdered and pink To joyously clean out the drain in the sink And it takes an angel with long golden lashes And soft Dresden finders For dumping the ashes... And in the winter she'll snow And lovingly set out the traps for the mice She's a joy and treasure for practically speaking To whom can you turn when the plumbing is leaking? If Vandergelder is a caricature of an unfeeling businessman, Mrs. Malloy strikes a different, more wistful note. She's spent the best part of her life making hats and she's not made a lot of money Now, she's a widow. And she'd like to tie the knot with someone who has the bucks of a Vandergelder. But for all of that, Mrs. Malloy, played in this show by Shella Collins, hasn't given up her heart. In the wonderful song, "It Only Takes a Moment:' Collins gives us an understanding of what it means to have found love, even if finding love is a fleeting instant of happiness. Collins' singing and performance of this song is quite tender. He held me for an instant But his arms felt safe and strong It only takes a moment To be loved a whole life long No review of this production would be complete without a word of appreciation for Dolly as played by Karen Machia. Here is an actor who has a great voice, who makes great moves on stage, who is the unabashed through-line figure of the musical whom we never tire of seeing and appreciating, who has all the high energy and self-promotion and smarts to figure out what she wants and get what she wants and still keep us loving her right to the end of the show. Theater director Michael John Suchomel and Music Director Mark Violette are to be congratulated. In this production of "Hello, Dolly!" they have assembled a cast of players who can sing and dance and act and who carry us with them from the first entrance and bar of music to the show's last note. This isn't Broadway with its, marquee lights, huge stages, theatrical tricks and star personalities. Thank God, it isn't Broadway. Because the joy at QuarryWorks is palpable. The music and lyrics are just as fun. And what could beat the idea of driving out to Adamant, nine miles from Montpelier, finding the little country store at the crossroads, then taking a narrow dirt road through the woods and finding at the very end of the road an abandoned quarry, filled with water, and a little theater and all the magic of music, dancing and bright lights and costumes.