Now that’s a Broadway musical! One breathtaking moment in Hello, Dolly is Dolly, professional meddler, glamorous in red descending the stairs. As in the grand tradition of Dolly Levi before her, Bernadette Peters takes her turn in the superb revival of Hello, Dolly at the Schubert Theater, replacing the much-adored Bette Midler. At a recent performance, we did not miss Bette, as good as she was. Feisty, petite and taking Dolly as a practical businesswoman, Peters fits the role like a fine kid glove, dancing, and oh that voice. She’s a Broadway star without the diva posture and best of all, she has chemistry galore with Victor Garber as the curmudgeonly Horace Vandergelder. These Broadway musical veterans look like they are having a wonderful time in old New York, and watching them, so are we.

Dolly is no ingénue. And the timeworn story of who will be married to whom never gets old, no matter the age of the couples. Marrying well, well, that’s Dolly Levi’s expertise. Her New York, full of eligible candidates, includes the milliner Irene Molloy, an excellent Kate Baldwin and her assistant, Minnie Fay (Molly Griggs), who fall in with Vandergelder’s hired help on a romp through the city, Cornelious Hackl (Christian Dante White, an understudy we felt lucky to see), and Barnaby Tucker (a balletic Charlie Stemp). The parades, pageantry, the hats alone provide a vision of a pastel paradise, reminding us of the sweet Broadway musicals for which we yearn. Alas, these replacement actors are not eligible for the Tony Awards. No matter, as Dolly Levi might wisely say, a hit is its own reward.

Regina Weinreich

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