Hello, Dolly!" offers reminder of how pleasing Broadway used to be"

“Hello, Dolly!” currently appearing in a splendid looking and sounding production in the Patchogue venue of the Gateway Playhouse, is, in a bunch of ways that are evenly divided between positive and not quite so positive, a good-old, old-fashioned musical.

To be up-front honest, I freely admit to having a soft place in my heart and memory for old-fashioned musicals. I grew up with them, and it’s lovely to just relax into an evening of sweet melody and harmless jokes. But with all of this comfort, there’s one holdover from the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s that places a strain on any theater producing “Hello, Dolly!” Like dozens and dozens of musicals from these decades, whose producers first hired stars, and then hired creators who wrote shows around the star, “Dolly,” despite its birth in 1964—one of the last waning moments of the Golden Age of Musicals—is still a star vehicle, and whatever production of it arrives before the public today is haunted by the ghosts of the powerhouse stars who’ve appeared in it since its premiere.

And so, if Leslie Alexander, the Dolly of the Gateway’s current production isn’t a roaring, stage-consuming, cheers-creating diva, she’s a terrific trouper, who hits all the right notes and makes all the right moves. And she’s eminently, heart-warmingly believable as Dolly Levi, rather than Dolly Channing or Dolly Streisand or Dolly Grable. It makes for a comfortable evening.

And the show isn’t, after all, one long star turn. The saving graces of it are multiple and rewarding. There’s the very witty and clever and bright book by Michael Stewart that, in its straightforward, showbiz way, has all the jokes and the complications and the resolutions in the right places. It still stands up as the kind of book a musical deserves in this complex age—a sweet valentine to love that never becomes sticky.

And, too, there’s the Jerry Herman score—lovely without surcease. So what if most of the songs sound like something you’ve already heard, written by somebody else? They aren’t. They’re original in a non-threatening way, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

And, in Patchogue, the cast surrounding the star is true and talented down to the last chorus kid. These kids dance up several storms and energetically arouse another ghost—that of Gower Champion, who arrives in the form of the accuracy with which director/choreographer John Sheridan transfers the master’s dances to the Patchogue stage. They spin, they slide, they fly.

But one quibble: “Hello, Dolly!” is the second spectacular of the Gateway’s 61st season, and it seems as if the producers must have depleted their performers budget on “Hairspray,” whose dance numbers packed the Patchogue stage. The “Hello, Dolly!” production moments are impressive and stunning and exciting, but they’re executed by an abbreviated chorus, who, for all their abundant talent and skill and spirit, have an uphill battle filling the open spaces of the splendid set, assembled from pieces of various Broadway productions of “Dolly” by Broadway Bound, a New Orleans outfit. It sparkles, by the way, and so do the costumes, overseen by Marianne Dominy.

Wade Elkins, as a sort of Buddy Ebsen Ambrose Kemper, and Amber Carlson as the petite and tearful Ernestina, are charming and nimble. Eileen Ward, as Irene Molloy, the owner of both a women’s hat store and Barnaby’s heart, has a sweet presence and a glorious voice that turns “Ribbons Down My Back” into an embracing instant, and “It Only Takes a Moment” into a romantic parenthesis within the brash goings on. Lilly Tobin makes of Minnie Fay, her sidekick, a bright delight.

As Horace Vandergelder, the object of Dolly Levi’s affections and intentions, Steve Brady delivers a nicely timed comic performance, blustering and bellowing with fervor, and launching the show solidly as one of the trio of male philosophers in the jaunty “It Takes a Woman.”

Matthew Crowle is personable as Cornelius Hackle, the employee of Horace Vandergelder who is eager to leave Yonkers for a New York adventure. But Ryan Nearhoff is sensational as Barnaby Tucker, his companion in daredeviltry. Mr. Nearhoff is a dynamic dancer and a personality that fills even the far reaches of the Patchogue stage with energy and light.

Musical Director William Foster McDaniel keeps the proceedings moving with vigor, conducting a pit orchestra that brings back memories of a pre-amplified Broadway. Christopher Landy’s lighting is suitably happy and helpful. In sum, this “Hello, Dolly!” is a tender and tuneful reappearance of a more innocent and in many ways more pleasing Broadway than what we too often see today.

“Hello, Dolly!” continues in a Gateway Playhouse production at the Patchogue Theatre every night except Monday and in several weekly matinees through August 22. The box office number is 286-1133.