Ever since the downtimes of the COVID-19 pandemic, most midsize regional theaters have had to cut a few corners when they put on shows.
For many companies, this has meant replacing live musicians with recorded music, as well as programming smaller and less ambitious productions.
So it’s a nice surprise to see San Diego Musical Theatre’s big production of “Hello, Dolly!” It features a cast of 23, a huge costume wardrobe and some of the most ambitious choreography I’ve seen at a theater this size in a few years. There aren’t any live musicians, but the recorded tracks they’re using are good.
The musical is directed by Randy Slovacek, with musical direction by Richard Dueñez Morrison and choreography by Xavier J. Bush. The production is faithful, in that it honors the look and style of the 1964 musical and its 1969 film adaptation. Bush’s choreography pays homage to Gower Champion’s Tony Award-winning dance steps, from the high-step strutting in “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” to the cartwheeling athleticism in “The Waiter’s Gallop.”
But what’s different in Slovacek’s production is the warm and grounded performance of Heidi Meyer as Dolly Levi, the widowed 1890s-era jackie-of-all-trades who sets her sights on marrying disinterested Yonkers merchant Horace Vandergelder.
As written in the musical (and the 1938 play it was based on, “The Matchmaker”), Dolly is farcelike character and unabashed hustler. But Meyer, who’s very good in the part, feels like a real person who plots her schemes out of necessity. Meyer doesn’t shout or over-sing and her gentleness transmits her character’s loneliness and desperation.
A.G. Parks brings a suitable gruffness to the character of Horace. Adam Granados is a vocal standout as Cornelius, Horace’s chief clerk, and Jackson Taitano is his comic foil as junior clerk Barnaby. Katherine Chapman has grace and a lovely singing voice as Irene Molloy, the milliner who falls for Cornelius. And Johnisa Breault is girlishly sweet as Irene’s shop assistant Minnie Fay.
The show’s big music-and-dance numbers are the highlight, with its large vocal ensemble and dance corps.
The production, which runs 2-1/2 hour, fills the stage with elaborate dance numbers, so there’s not much in the way of scenery. Mike Buckley created the basic painterly backdrops and mercantile store. Michelle Miles designed lighting, Chong Mi Land designed costumes and Jordan Gray designed sound.
“Hello, Dolly!” has an extended run through March 9 and SDMT is raising donations for Los Angeles fire victims at each performance.
‘Hello, Dolly!’
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through March 9
Where: San Diego Musical Theatre, 4650 Mercury Street. Mercury St., Kearny Mesa
Tickets: $37.50-$75
Phone: 858-560-5740
Online: sdmt.org
