They’re going to raise the roof! They’re going to carry on! Give them that old trombone! Give them the old baton! They are the parade— Howard County Summer Theatre— with their 47th annual production and this year it’s a true classic. Hello, Dolly! graces their summertime stage (this year in the auditorium at Marriotts Ridge High School) and it’s a real whizbang! It’s a wonder! It’s a sensation! And it’ll only take a moment for you to fall in love with the tremendously impressive, professional quality production that they’ve fabricated this year. Directed by Tom Sankey with Vocal Direction by Samantha Grimes, Choreography by Kassi Serafini (and the team of Melissa Corona, Tori Farnsworth, Pam Land, and Amanda Slatin), and sensational Orchestral Direction by Kevin George, this wholesome, feel-good family musical is truly one for the books. Based on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker with libretto by Michael Stewart and music & lyrics by the incomparable Jerry Herman, Hello, Dolly! at Howard County Summer Theatre is simply dazzling.
They’ve hit the sweet spot, found perfection in all its glory, and have set the bar mighty high for future productions but this year— 2023’s Hello, Dolly! is truly sensational. Everything from the flawless sound balance (sound reinforcement master Luke Greffen and Technical Director Laura Greffen) to the professional quality orchestra, led by the astonishing Kevin George and a great many aesthetic and performative elements in-between, this show truly is a heart-warming success that is marvelous to behold and thoroughly enjoyable beyond compare. Director Tom Sankey has mastered the epitome of balance between the hoards of hundreds in the ensemble and the ratio of “fill the stage” verses “crowd the stage.” There is a keen and deliberate sense of street scenes— like the opening number “Call On Dolly” and again during “Before the Parade Passes By” where Sankey has cleverly orchestrated the ensemble (just shy of 6o individuals) to spread out and create a crowd scene without overcrowding the stage. Sankey sensibly pulls back during moments in Harmonia Gardens for the polka (using just a couple of featured dancers) and in Vandergelder’s shop (using a handful of male ensemble dancer) and strikes the perfect balance of utilizing everyone when appropriate and creating a clean and polished aesthetic for the show.
And you can see why Sankey is so keen to push the ensemble of five dozen out into the limelight during those bigger moments; Costume Director Laural Seivold Clark has accumulated a series of beautiful, period appropriate pieces for everyone. Clark does a fine job of representing the time period during “Before The Parade Passes By” as well, featuring suffragettes, temperance marchers, old-fashioned clowns and stilt-walkers, tumblers, marching band individuals that look like something straight out of a Harold Hill confabulation a la The Music Man, baton twirlers, and elder statesmen in their straw hats, pinstripes and little waving flags. It’s a proper parade of every street group of folks you could think of from the period! You get Clark’s glorious array of costumes set against the beautiful, rented backdrops and Bill Pond & Douglas Thomas’ interchangeable rolling-block set and you’ve got a truly impressive feat on your hands. Pond & Thomas have all the things you could hope for from a production of Hello, Dolly! including the grand, glorious staircase of The Harmonia Gardens (and tragically I’ve seen it done— and on a big-budgeted professional stage, without said staircase and it completely ruins the effect.) Irene Molloy’s hat shop flips around to double back as the private dining booths at Harmonia Gardens and I’m pretty sure the other side serves as Vandergelder’s Feed Store. Stage Manager Nathan Kabrhel keeps those scenic shifts moving fluidly and flawlessly as well and deserves a nod of praise too.
But the most astonishing feat for this production— not the grandiose costumes, not the impressive balance of who is on stage when, not the extraordinary talent populating both ensemble and principal cast, and yes all these things are wonderful— but hands down the most impressive thing is the fact that the Orchestra (professional quality sound led by Kevin George and featuring a live pit of 23 performers) sits unmasked (no barrier, shielding, draping, or sound dampening…not the other kind) at the front of the auditorium in plain sight and never once overtakes the performers on stage in a volume battle. All too often, especially in community theatre, there is a balance issue with the pit overplaying, overbearing, and overtaking the singers on stage. Kevin George and whoever is in charge of Sound (‘the reinforcer’ Luke Greffen or the TD Laura Greffen) deserves mad props for making this blissful perfection. It’s stunning. Add to that the truly professional sounding quality from George and his pit of 23 and the aural experience of Hello, Dolly! is elevated from fantastic to spectacular.
Of course some of that spectacular-ness comes from Vocal Director Samantha Grimes. It’s not easy getting an ensemble of nearly 60 to sing together with varying harmonies, melodies, blends, and all that jazz. But Grimes manages just fine. Clearly Hello, Dolly! is not her first rodeo. Hearty, robust sounds pour out of ensemble and principal players alike. It’s a true treat to hear this bunch perform. Speaking of the innumerable ensemble— a major shoutout is owed to Hermione Bransford, Dylan Iwanczuk, and Mai Miller. These adorable three young performers are part of an ad-lib chase all throughout Harmonia Gardens which ties up Head Waiter Rudolph Reisenweber (played by the crackpot character-man Todd Hochkeppel), literally shooing them out of the restaurant. NO CHILDREN ALLOWED AT THE HARMONIA GARDENS. And it’s hilarious and adds a personal touch of humor to the already humorous chaos rolling around during that series of scenes. Hochkeppel is also in charge of the waiter and their wild dancing (no tapping, just good old fashioned soft shoe and a kickline pinwheel! It really adds that wow-factors to the titular tune of the show.)
Speaking of that sensational kickline pinwheel and link-arm kickline that closes out the tune, Choreographer Kassi Serafini and her Assistant Team— Melissa Corona, Tori Farnsworth, Pam Land, and Amanda Slatin— has really put a tremendous amount of effort into crisp, clean, coordinated choreography. A lot of it is very simple but it looks wonderful. Sometimes less is more, simple is better than complicated, and this is a lesson that Serafini and her team seem to know well. She also seems to understand the skillset of the dancers and the ensemble as a whole and adjusts accordingly. This results in some really fresh and clean-looking dance routines that just make the whole of the production thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
You get outstanding performances across the board. The sniveling but hilarious Ermengarde (Tori Farnsworth) pops up as a crying cameo but is living her best life as the hysterical niece in histrionics. Farnsworth’s on-stage moments (as indicated by the libretto) are few and far-between but my god does she grab the audience’s attention in the best way possible every time she whine-sobs her way on or off the stage. You get a similar hoot and hilarity from Miss Ernestina Money (Rebecca Stryker) who is just too hilarious for proper verbiage. When she shows up in that— it can only be described as an OzDust glimmer gown a-la Wicked… only fallen from grace by way of a canary cage— ‘dress’ she’s got the audience in stitches and her over-the-top campy portrayal of the hussy who wants to do the Hoochie-Coochie is to die for. And let’s not forget poor Ambrose Kemper (Kevin Nolan.) That’s right, the “artist.” Again Nolan’s time is short-lived but when he whines his exasperations at Dolly Levi, you feel like he’s been sucked up straight out of 1899 and transported to this stage in 2023; it’s wild.
Minnie Fay is arguably a dismissible sidekick, brought along as a narrative companion to the Irene Molloy character because Cornelius Hackl comes with Barnaby Tucker. Make no mistake, Sarah Young is stealing her moments in the spotlight and making Miss Minnie Fay a buoyant, noteworthy caricature of a character. When she starts bouncing about during her “cherries & feathers” rant, it’s hilarious. (It’s as if someone took the time to explain to this cast that Hello, Dolly! is meant to be treated as a farce, which really allowed them to hone the comic nuance and overall giddiness of the tale.) She has a lovely voice, which well supports numbers like the quartet of “Elegance” at the top of the second act, which is another fine example of pristine choreography in action. Bouncing opposite of Young’s Minnie Fay is the exuberant Sam Bishop in the role of Barnaby Tucker. Matching her giddiness and glee, as well as playing a perfect perky sidekick to the Cornelius character, Bishop is a fantastical match to the role. He too has a smooth voice that lends itself well to the top-end duet of “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and he carries his quarter of “Elegance” delightfully.
It only takes a moment to feel the genuine chemistry that develops between Cornelius Hackl (Justin Moe) and Mrs. Irene Molloy (Heather Moe.) Right from the moment (see? I said it was a moment!) Justin Moe pops up from the ‘cellar’ of Vandergelder’s shop, the audience knows its in for a treat. With all the spontaneous energy of a wound-up store clerk who has never truly lived but is desperate to see the world, Moe just explodes into the role with naïve charisma, sincere enthusiasm, and a whole lot of glorious sparkle in his voice. Moe starts a conflagration with his vocals when he blazes the start of “Put On Your Sunday Clothes.” And his physical comedy is spot on; Moe truly plays up the slapstick nature of his character but mellows into those more earnest moments. (Watch him during “Dancing” and see if your gut isn’t sore from laughing after!) Mrs. Moe (hey…maybe that’s why their chemistry is so beautiful and natural!) is the perfect fit for the Irene Molloy role and brings this classically trained glorious voice to “Ribbons Down My Back” that just melts you into a simpler time. And honestly, she makes you want to love that song (it’s arguably one of the least popular, most-skipped-over songs in the show but Heather Moe makes you discover it in a whole new way.) When Moe and Moe put their voices together for “It Only Takes a Moment” it brings a heartfelt, joyous tear to the eye and you just can’t help but swoon over this perfect sound that they create together. It’s a sheer delight to watch the pair of them play opposite one another all throughout the performance.
Bristly, obstreperous, curmudgeonly, and all those other big bold words that mean ‘mean old grump’ fall squarely on the character of Horace Vandergelder (David Bittner.) And Bittner does not disappoint in the role. He’s moody, clipped of tone and sharp of attitude, particularly when chastising Cornelius and Barnaby. There’s something to be said for the ease with which Bittner slides into his primary musical number as well, “It Takes A Woman.” There’s a robust heartiness present in his singing voice that translates his views on a woman’s place in the household thoroughly into this number. (Again Sankey and his team have done a resplendent job of instilling the notion of farce to the cast so that this becomes a humorous number, even by today’s heightened standards.) Bittner’s interactions with Dolly are priceless as well; the more she pushes, the harder he bristles. They share the perfect dynamic.
Holy cabooses! The world is full of such wonderful things— in this case one of those wonderful things is Pam Land in the titular role of Dolly Levi. She plays up all the heightened caricature aspects of Dolly and balances them against a sincere, genuine sense of loving and living life to the fullest. It’s truly on par with anything you’d expect from a professional or touring company Dolly. The vocal acrobatics Land employs to really put those songs out there— like when she’s belting her way through “Before The Parade Passes By” and when she’s crooning and sliding her way through “Hello, Dolly” are remarkable. And her characterization of the iconic leading lady is just aces. It’s hard to find accurate words to describe what it is she’s doing, but whatever it is— it just feels right. When you’ve seen all the locals and the big Broadway stars and the historic icons, you sort of think you’ll know exactly what to say when you see your next Dolly…but Pam Land is truly disarming in that charming and winsome, wholly and utterly wondrous way; it’s truly a praiseworthy performance and then some. Land delivers the plucky and zippy punches, the more sincere moments too, and has one hell of a stage presence, total command over her vocal prowess, and is just living in the moment and the ether that is Dolly Levi. You’ll feel the room swaying, just like the lyrics say, when she descends the grand staircase at Harmonia Gardens in that glorious, glittering red gown. It’s a very impressive moment, which is just one in a whole slew of wonderful, feel-good, funny and poignant moments in this production featuring Land.
So be sure to call on Howard County Summer Theatre— they’re the ones you need to see in action this summer with their stunning production of Hello, Dolly! A truly quality production if ever there was one in the area this summer.
Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Hello, Dolly! plays through July 1st 2023 with Howard County Summer Theatre in the auditorium of Marriotts Ridge High School— 12100 Woodford Drive in Marriottsville, MD. Tickets can be purchased at the door (cash or check only) or in advance online.
Members of the live pit orchestra include: Jeanette Donald, Stephanie Richmond, Rebecca Freerksen, Ben Leavitt, Randy Whittenberger, Al Ingalls, Tim Freerksen, John Hintz, Noah Offenbacher, Katie Davis, Susan Beck, Cameron McLaren, Mary Shea Kealy-Kustas, Andrew Szakmeister, Zoe Desmond, Jamie Zhou, Zoe Donald, Kelly McVicker, Elise Donald, Saira Karim, Zach Desmond, Jon Gibson, Pam Goss.
Members of the performing stage ensemble include: Aila Abutboul, Paisley Arpasi, Heidi Bertaux, Carole Baumann, Paul Bohn, Dana Bonistalli, Hermione Bransford, Laural Seivold Clark, Isabella Corona, Melissa Corona, Craig Crandall, Sandy Cromwell, Katie Dallyce, Addy Dibble, Olivia Dibble, Terri Donaldson, Trent Donaldson, Cheryl Faber, Michael Gbadamoshi, Stephanie Gertler, Gary Grabau, Elodie Greenwell, Ashley Hartman, Alex Hobson, Ben Hobson, Christopher Hobson, Karyn Hobson, Dylan Iwanczuk, Kate Jacob, Lisa Jenkins, Lindsay Johnston, Sara Josephson, Molly Lanthier, Chrissy Barnett Miller, Mai Miller, Jess Morris, Liz Mulligan, Madeleine Mulligan, Maeve Mulligan, Leah Nath, Jonathan Olson, Nick Pascarelle, Luke Pinsky, Rhys Pinsky, Bill Pond, Elizabeth Porter, Finley Rowh, Amy Rubin, Abby Saitta, Keira Skiles, Nya Stevens, Leslie Stroud, Douglas Thomas, Jacob VanderVat, Debbi Watts, Karen Wieprecht, Chris Wilhelm, Andrew Yakaitis, David Zotian.
