REVIEW: HELLO DOLLY!—Musical Theatre West @ Carpenter Performing Arts Center
- TheShowReport
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 20 hours ago
Considered America’s Finest Piece of Musical Theatre, HELLO DOLLY! Storms the Carpenter Performing Arts Center Stage this October!
OCTOBER 18—LONG BEACH
Is it possible for a Broadway musical war horse to reinvent itself in the absence of its legendary original lead? Yes! Most buoyantly, even against the odds movingly! Such is presently the case in the newest production of HELLO DOLLY! by Musical Theatre West at Carpenter Performing Arts in Long Beach, closing out their 2025 season in style.
The production is a reincarnation of the 1964 Jerry Herman musical that, for at least two generations of playgoers, will be forever associated with the saucer-eyed brio of Carol Channing, who originated the role of the Yonkers matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi.
If you close your eyes, you can probably picture her swanning down a big staircase at around 9:30pm as if she were a mixture of Helen of Troy and the Empress Josephine, singing her interminable title song. Ms. Channing was replaced many times on Broadway, not least by Ethel Merman, but in theater lore, she was considered irreplaceable, especially with that husky, vocal quaver audiences loved.
The tale told in “DOLLY!” (which plays at the Carpenter through November 2nd), however, has a classical simplicity that Director Cynthia Ferrer’s palpably affectionate staging brings to the forefront. Just as the widowed Dolly awaits a sign that will release her from the memory of her late husband and into the moneyed arms of the growly Horace Vandergelder (David Engel), so, too, must the merchant Horace’s senior shop assistant, Cornelius Hackl (Robert Pieranunzi), find his long-overdue mate in a milliner, Irene Molloy (Anna Mintzer), who harbors her own visions of being noticed “with ribbons down my back” — an equivalent of sorts to the defining feathers in the gleaming-eyed Dolly’s hair.
Based on a play by Thornton Wilder (“The Matchmaker”), it remains an odd mix of two central plot motifs: the determination of the widowed, matchmaking Mrs. Levi to marry wealthy merchant, Horace Vandergelder, and the discovery of New York life by the latter's repressed storekeepers. But, since the merchant himself is a chauvinist skinflint, one boggles at Mrs. Levi's single-mindedness.
But, this is Dolly Levi Gallagher, a widow in late 19th century New York who works as a matchmaker and anything else that might make her a buck. “Some people paint,” she says at one point. “Some sew. I…meddle.” It’s delivered as a classic HELLO DOLLY! wisecrack, with that mischievous grin and the practiced inflection of a Borscht Belt comic.
And meddle she does. Dolly has been looking for a wife for “half-millionaire” Horace — and has decided that that wife should be herself. This means she must quickly sabotage his planned proposal to Ms. Mintzer’s New York hatmaker Irene. So Dolly does this by arranging for Horace’s two assistants Cornelius (Mr. Pieranunzi) and Barnaby (the talented Ben Raanan) to woo Irene and her assistant Minnie Fay (Natalie Holt MacDonald).
She also is busy scheming to prod Horace into reversing his adamant opposition of nuptials between his niece Ermengarde (Domonique Paton) and Ambrose (Landen Starkman) because of Ambrose’s disreputable career — he's an artist. Is it a spoiler to reveal that love — or at least Dolly — triumphs?
She also excels in “Before the Parade Passes By,” one of the four or five supremely tuneful songs in Jerry Herman’s score. But where Tami Tappan Damiano reaches something close to perfection is in the over-the-top-show-stopping scene at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, where she descends the stairs (as her predecessors before her) in a gown of screaming sequins and baubles and a crown of colorful plumes — quite literally a vision of glamor.
Beloved by LA audiences for her powerhouse performances across the region, and by MTW audiences for standout roles in “Spamalot,” “Guys & Dolls,” “Crazy for You,” and “Singin’ in the Rain,” Ms. Tappan Damiano stepped away from the limelight for a while to raise her family. Now, with her child grown, she makes a triumphant return in one of Broadway’s most iconic roles - her gorgeous voice once again delivering retro sultriness with a vibrant persona. And that is evident from the moment she makes her entrance on stage.
She unites on stage with David Engle in one of his best roles yet - the curmudgeonly yet endearing Horace Vandergelder. A six-time Ovation Award winner, Engel’s celebrated career with MTW spans over two decades, with memorable performances in “La Cage Aux Folles,” “Hairspray,” “The Producers,” “Newsies,” “White Christmas,” and many more. And his impeccable comedic timing and commanding presence marks a highly anticipated onstage pairing that promises sparks, laughs, and unforgettable moments.
The two stars are most engagingly met by a cast that doesn’t try to distort the musical in any way beyond playing it for real. I wasn’t the only one whose eyes misted over at the budding rapport between Ms. Mintzer’s effortlessly elegant Irene and the Mr. Pieranunzi’s peerless Cornelius, whose unaffected sweetness is of a piece with the show around him.
And that affecting gala title number, for all the brassy exuberance one associates with this composer, is matched perfectly later on when the softening scold that is Mr. Engel’s Horace gets down on bended knee before Ms. Tappan Damiano’s Mrs. Levi and speaks the musical’s title directly to her.
Working across the multiple levels of Bruce Brockman’s elaborate set, the company raises the roof at the moment in which the train whisks all involved toward the giddy heights of big-city romance in “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” featuring Cheryl Baxter's stunning choreography. Ms. Baxter also cleverly invests the gallop by the scarlet-coated waiters at the Harmonia Gardens with a hint of heel-clicking Prussian militarism.
A slapstick ballet and ensemble tap number follow in due course, which is where the real heavy-lifting comes in. Kudos to the dance ensemble players, performed vigorously by a talented group of athletic, inexhaustible and compelling artists, who, on this breezy, memorable October night, trod the boards with fearless elan.
MUSICAL THEATRE WEST & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PRODUCER PAUL GARMAN, PRESENTS HELLO DOLLY! Book by MICHAEL STEWART; Based on “The Matchmaker” by THORNTON WILDER; Music and Lyrics by JERRY HERMAN; Original Production Directed & Choreographed by GOWER CHAMPION; Directed by CYNTHIA FERRER; Choreography by CHERYL BAXTER; Music Director/Conductor DENNIS CASTELLANO; Technical Director HAROLD KAST; Scenic Designer BRUCE BROCKMAN; Lighting Designer PAUL BLACK; Sound Designer ANDREA ALLMOND; Costume Designer DIXON REYNOLDS; Wig Designer KAITLYN YAGEN; Production Stage Manager JULIAN OLIVE.
CAST: RICKY BULDA; JANNA CARDIA; ROGER CASTENNANO; RYAN CODY; BAR DANIEL; SYDNEY DEMARIA; BRANDON HALVORSEN; CAMRYN HAMM; NATALIE HOLT MACDONALD; CORINNE MILLER; STEFAN MILLER; ANNA MINTZER; MICAH NICHOLSON; JANE PAPAGEORGE; DOMONIQUE PATON; ROBERT PIERANUNZI; BEN RAANAN; RASHA WILLES SAMAHA; MICHALIS SCHINAS; GRACE SIMMONS; LANDEN STARKMAN; HELEN TAIT; MATT WILEY; ANDY WISSINK.
STUDENT ENSEMBLE: RACHEL BEARD; RYAN BOHMHOLDT; GRACE CATRON; SAVANNA CEZUS; KACIE DILLON; JAMESON HOLLAR; TALIA LANDAU; DREW LARSEN; SAM LELESI; ZACHARY VEEH.
HELLO DOLLY! Performances are at CARPENTER PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, LONG BEACH, October 17th-November 2nd. Running time 2 hours, 35 minutes with one intermission. Tickets are available for purchase by phone at 562-856-1999 or online at www.musical.org
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
Photo Credits: Courtesy Musical Theatre West
