1st Night Photos: Spiro's Dolly Makes an EntranceDate: 11 August 2009
A smattering of rain failed to dampen the spirits of the Hello Dolly! company as they celebrated their opening night at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park (10 August, previews from 30 July).
Hello Dolly!, which stars Samantha Spiro in the title role and is directed by Open Air artistic director Timothy Sheader, marks the final production in this year's Open Air season, finishing on 12 September.
Jerry Herman's musical, which has a book by Michael Stewart, premiered on Broadway in 1964 and went on to scoop ten Tony Awards. It was famously made into a 1969 film starring Barbra Streisand in the title role.
The story centres on widowed matchmaker Dolly Levi who takes a trip to Yonkers, New York to see prominent, wealthy bachelor Horace Vandergelder. While there, she persuades him, his two stock clerks, his niece, and her beau to go to New York City, where Dolly tries to arrange a match between the two clerks and the woman Vandergelder had been courting and her shop assistant over a hectic dinner.
TO SCROLL THROUGH ALL OF HELLO, DOLLY!'s 1ST NIGHT PHOTOS,
JUST CLICK ON THE "NEXT >" LINKS BELOW THE FOLLOWING FRAME.
PHOTOS BY DAN WOOLLER FOR WHATSONSTAGE.COM.
For 1st Night Photos, our Whatsonstage.com photographer Dan Wooller was at the Open Air Theatre for the curtain call and after party, where the company were joined by guests including actors Desmond Barrit, Natalie Casey, Josie Walker, Una Stubbs, Matt Rawle, Ian Talbot and Daniel Evans, and also comedian Victoria Wood, who's currently in rehearsals for her upcoming revival of Talent at the Menier Chocolate Factory (See News, 8 Jul 2009).
Alongside Spiro, the cast also features Allan Corduner, Mark Anderson, Clare Louise Connolly, Oliver Brenin, Daniel Crossley, Josefina Gabrielle, Akiya Henry, Andy Hockley and John Stacey. The choreography is by Stephen Mear, who also collaborated with director Sheader on last year’s musical Whatsonstage.com Award-nominated revival of Gigi.
- by Theo Bosanquet
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