By Katherine Beeson
Saber Center for the Performing Arts transformed itself into Yonkers and New York City as the Forte Theatre Company presented its spring musical, “Hello, Dolly!” The show is directed by Randall Dodge with Alex Chilsen as music director.
As most know, this is the story of Dolly Levi, a popular widow who makes her living as, among other things, a matchmaker. She reveals to the audience that her secret goal is to find a second
spouse for herself and she frequently speaks to her late husband, Ephraim, asking him for a sign that he approves of her marrying again. Her goal not just any husband; she is determined to land
Horace Vandergelder, the half-millionaire and owner of a very popular feed store in Yonkers who has hired her to match him with the fancy hat shop owner and widow, Irene Malloy. Thrown into the mix are Vandergelder’s employees, Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker who just want a day of adventure in the Big Apple and are determined not to return until they’ve kissed a girl. They turn to Dolly for advice and dancing lessons. How can Dolly accomplish all this in one day? Just watch!
I love this show and Forte did a nice job bringing it to life. As soon as the curtain rose, we were in New York City and treated to the city’s best-known matchmaker plying her trade. Candace Decker
was a wonderful Dolly Levi – her voice beautiful, her stage presence captivating. Horace Vandergelder is properly crabby; Karl Miller does a great job. Ryan Cappleman as Cornelius has
great spark and energy and Owen Groth brings mischief to his part as Barnaby Tucker.
There is a very small orchestra here, but that turns out to be just the proper amount of accompaniment; it was solid yet never overpowered the singers. Singing was a bit of an issue; the
ensemble pieces were fine, but many times the melody was lost and only the lower harmonies remained.
Costume designer is Nikki Heiniger and while most of the outfits were nice, there were two errors that were very distracting.
A costumer designer should assess the heat of the stage, the activity of the actors/dancers and the fabric used in the costume. The Cornelius character was moving so much on a very warm stage that he sweated through his sport coat, which was very evident to the audience. A simple tee shirt might have made a difference.
The other error was that Dolly spent all of Act I and a good portion of Act II in the same outfit, which should have been more attractive. The actress was a slightly larger woman, yet would have looked fantastic (as Dolly should have) in a more flattering, elegant outfit, rather than the dull mustard-colored dress with a bit of cranberry accent she wore.
Another, albeit minor, point was the inability to make actresses stand out. Ermengarde, Vandergelder’s niece, should have been accented with at least a splash of bright color; her pale beige renders her almost bland on the brightly lit stage.
I also had an issue with the judge character, whose huge white wig and bushy moustache made him appear more of a caricature.
Attention to detail would have made a huge difference in this production.
Yet, there was so much to like with Forte’s production of “Hello Dolly!”
I just hope the major flaws are corrected before next weekend’s performances. The show runs through April 21 at Saber Center for the Performing Arts, 8222 51st St Street in Franklin.