Broadway smash-hit musical Hello, Dolly! is going back where it belongs, to play the London Palladium in Summer 2024 starring Imelda Staunton.
Award-winning stage and screen actress Imelda Staunton (Netflix’s The Crown) will star in the much-delayed and much-anticipated revival of Jerry Herman’s joyous musical Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium in Summer 2024.
It will play the Palladium from 6 July to 14 September 2024, for 10 weeks only.
Hello, Dolly was initially scheduled to run in 2020 for 30-weeks at the Adelphi Theatre but was delayed due to Covid, and due to Imelda Staunton’s filming commitments for her role as The Queen in Peter Morgan’s Netflix drama The Crown. The Adelphi is now housing Back to the Future so unavailable for Hello, Dolly!’s run.
Hello, Dolly! will see Staunton reunite with Director Dominic Cooke, following their acclaimed production of Follies at the National Theatre.
It is believed that Imelda Staunton met with Jerry Herman just before he died in December 2019, and he gave her and Dominic Cooke permission to switch around the show’s opening scenes and change one of its songs. They are adding another Jerry Herman song into the show – ‘Penny in My Pocket’, which was also inserted into the recent Broadway production starring Bette Midler.
That song is for store owner Horace Vandergelder, who will be played by Andy Nyman (Ghost Stories, Fiddler on the Roof) in the Palladium show. Nyman has long been attached to this production, as has Olivier Award winner Jenna Russell (Flowers for Mrs Harris, EastEnders), who has been confirmed as playing Irene Molloy, Harry Hepple (Follies, Romantics Anonymous) as Cornelius Hackl and Tyrone Huntley (Jesus Christ Superstar, Dreamgirls, The Book of Mormon) as Barnaby Tucker.
Previously reflecting on the role starring role of Dolly, Staunton said she hopes to bring out lead character Dolly Gallagher Levi’s Irish heritage when she brings the role to life.
The large scale revival will have a cast of 35 and an orchestra of 18 musicians. The creative team will also include Rae Smith – Set & Costume Designer; Bill Deamer – Choreographer; Jon Clark – Lighting Designer; Paul Groothuis – Sound Designer; Finn Ross – Video Designer; and Nick Skilbeck – Musical Supervisor.
Featuring music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, the much-loved musical centres on widower Dolly Gallagher Levi – an esteemed and strong-willed matchmaker to New York’s great and good, who suddenly decides to match herself with shopkeeper Horace Vandergelder.
Hello, Dolly! originally premiered in the West End at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1965 starring Mary Martin as Dolly. The show ran again in 1979 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and then at the Shaftesbury Theatre, starring Carol Channing; and at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1984 starring Danny La Rue. In 2009 Samantha Spiro played Dolly at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Hello, Dolly! is produced by Michael Harrison (Sunset Boulevard, Peter Pan, The Little Big Things, Starlight Express, Crazy For You), Gavin Kalin, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Crossroads Live.
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