The Boston Globe
- Recommended
"...Though "Hello, Dolly!" is the warhorse to end all warhorses, it's still got some giddy-up. Modernizing it would not work, and Parent wisely does not try, even though his program note makes clear that today's political climate is much on his mind. His unapologetically old-fashioned production taps into the strength of Jerry Herman's score - which remains hard to resist no matter how many times you've heard it - while showcasing the musical-comedy chops of Aimee Doherty."
Joyce's Choices
- Recommended
"...WELL HELLO!! I must say, that this iconic, long-running, Tony-Award-winning musical HELLO DOLLY! has never been a fave of mine and I've seen a few incarnations of its heroine including the divinely daffy Carol Channing's signature stage turn and Barbra Streisand's miscast movie version. AIMEE DOHERTY brings her musical theater chops, deepened vocals, comic timing, and plenty of pluck and pep to the part. She's killing it in the title role on the LYRIC STAGE in an exuberant production directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent! The entire cast and crew have put on their "Sunday best" at a time when many of us are feeling down and out."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...If you’d like to know how it’s possible to take a decidedly dated musical written in 1964 (set in 1890) and make it come freshly and fully alive today, go see the Lyric Stage Company of Boston’s vibrant production of Hello, Dolly!, playing until June 22. Director Maurice Emmanuel Parent (a self-described “Black, queer child of an immigrant”) resonates with the joy of this show during dark times and “the power of art – especially musical theatre – to uplift, to restore, and to reconnect us to ourselves and to one another… even when the world feels heavy.” That is exactly what this Dolly does, and we are lucky to have Parent at its helm. He makes several excellent choices, including some diversity in casting (and what a phenomenal cast it is!), so that even the most dated parts will get your toes tapping and, as the title song says, “the room swayin’.”"
New England Theater Mirror
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Parent resists the temptation to update the book, and the cast wholeheartedly commits to the dated material. In addition to the show's principal players (Doherty, Coleman, Espiritu, and Mahoney), Parent has stacked the ensemble with traditional lead performers like Jackson Jirard (Ain't Misbehavin'), Joy Clark (Sweeney Todd, Drowsy Chaperone), and Mark Linehan (too many musical leads to name and now emerging as one of Boston's funniest comic actors) to augment the younger players. Their enthusiasm and talent - coupled with Robbins' adventurous choreography - pay huge dividends."
The New England Theatre Geek
- Highly Recommended
"...The production rarely sits still, which is fitting for a jam-packed farce that spans only 24 hours of the characters' lives. Ilyse Robbins' choreography is delectable, filling the theater with a near-constant undercurrent of cheer. Parent's staging utilizes every inch of the venue's limited space, such that the
performers are practically bursting from every entrance."
Boston Arts Diary
- Highly Recommended
"...Dolly Gallagher Levi (Aimee Doherty) is a fairly recent widow and in business for herself in many trades: matchmaker, dance instructor, and mandolin teacher, among other things. Because of her charisma and joie de vivre, she arrives in New York, her old stomping ground, with some fanfare from the locals. Soon she is employed by the stiff and grumpy demi-millionaire, Horace Vandergelder (Joshua Wolf Coleman), from the close suburb of Yonkers, to find a wife. But Dolly, in need of a bit more security, has her own aim on marrying him, so she embarks on a variety of ruses to get his attentions."
On Boston Stages
- Highly Recommended
"...The Lyric Stage Company’s “Hello, Dolly!” is a brilliant blend of song and dance, expertly acted and presented, simply a joyous 21/2 hours of theater."
