By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Saturday 6 July 2024, opens 18 July and booking until 16 September 2024 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

Bette Midler starred in the 2017 Broadway revival of the classic 1964 musical which was an Oscar-winning film 5 years later starring Barbra Streisand so clearly Staunton has some work to do – and do it she does.

• Read on for reasons including how this is a solid if not quite yet spectacular revival of a much-loved show

Staunton won our Best Theatre Actress monsta for Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2017 and here stars at the iconic London Palladium in the titular role in this classic musical about a matchmaker who travels to New York.

The starry supporting cast includes Jenna Russell (STEVE, Seven Dials Playhouse), Tyrone Huntley (The View UpStairs, Soho Theatre) and Harry Hepple (Boy Meets Girl Q&A, BFI). 

Initially called Dolly, A Damned Exasperating Woman, the show’s title was revised after producers heard Louis Armstrong’s classic version of what became the title track.

Plot-wise it’s a little flimsy as the 19th becomes the 20th century and all of New York is excited because brassy widow Dolly Gallagher Levi is in town. Dolly makes a living through what she calls ‘meddling’ – matchmaking and numerous sidelines, including dance instruction and mandolin lessons.

She seeks a wife for grumpy Horace Vandergelder, the well-known half-a-millionaire, and Ambrose Kemper, a young artist, wants to marry Horace’s niece Ermengarde enlisting Dolly’s help.

No attempt is made to update the material and Horace explains to his two clerks, Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker, played by Hepple and Huntley, who are having a comedy ball, that he is going to get married because It Takes a Woman to cheerfully do all the household chores. So far, so sexist.

Staunton is theatrical royalty who we haven’t seen in a musical on a London stage since Follies at the National in 2017 and this is a role that she was born to play.

We’re in the 13th row and Staunton gives a Rolls Royce performance in keeping with her character and more suited to her recent TV work on The Crown than the grab-you-by-the-lapels gutsiness of her Olivier Award-winning turn in Gypsy.

Director Dominic Cooke (Medea, @SohoPlace) relies heavily on his stage with travelator to create movement and, though the show momentum is pacy, we were left waiting for a wow moment.

There is a standing ovation at the show’s close and immediately after the title track was performed at this 1st preview although this is not quite yet the must-see that Gypsy was but is a well-cast and lavishly produced revival of a classic that musical theatre fans will love.

We had bought tickets to see this production at the Adelphi before Covid and this is a solid if not quite yet spectacular revival of a much-loved show which is a little dated but boasts a strong performance from theatrical royalty at its heart.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Hello Dolly! and London Palladium Tickets
• Have you seen an Imelda Staunton show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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