« Hello Dolly ! It’s so nice to have you back where you belong ! » What better place than the capital of love to celebrate 60 years of existence of Dolly Levi, the most famous matchmaker in musicals? A modern-day cupid with the appearance of a sparkling widow, capable of forming the most incongruous couples, the heroine is making her comeback on the French stage in Hello, Dolly !.
Having become cult on Broadway since its creation in 1964, it is today in the red setting of the Théâtre du Lido, temple of glamor and glitter, that the “musical” unfolds. Here we are immersed, for two and a half hours, in the chic New York of 1890, when Dolly Gallagher Levi arrives, played for the first time by Caroline O'Connor, famous Broadway actress best known for her role in the film Moulin Rouge de Baz Luhrmann.
From its entrance by large balustrades and the first notes of the title I Put My Hand inthe truculent lady announces the color of her slightly hoarse voice: “I have always been a woman who arranges things, For my pleasure and my profit: Furniture, bouquets, affairs of the heart. » Besides the worldly affairs, Dolly is there to take on a major challenge: finding a suitable wife for the grain merchant Horace Vandergelder, “grumpy old boy” whom she herself secretly dreams of marrying.
Joyfully assumed cliché
In a whirlwind of crinoline dresses and colorful frock coats, frilly parasols and feathered hats, Dolly and her acolytes, 8 singers and 17 dancers, vibrate to the rhythm of the different love intrigues. And take us, between saloon and shops, in a funny and joyful atmosphere. The show ticks all the boxes of the musical comedy imagination, with its tap dancing numbers, acrobatic dances, misunderstandings and comic scenes with a vaudeville feel.
The plot, inspired by the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder, sometimes sounds a bit simple and stereotypical, as when evoking the supposed role of women, “in the kitchen, in the housework” according to the rich Horace. Exacerbated, the cliché is however assumed and subtly foiled when we understand that it is in fact the ladies who lead the dance, literally and figuratively.
Besides the swirling energy of the choreography, what would Hello, Dolly ! without its score and titles? What a pleasure to vibrate to the rhythm of the eponymous piece, composed by Jerry Hermann and accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Nigel Lilley on stage. Global hit covered in a New Orleans jazz version by Louis Armstrong, Hello, Dolly ! was then sung by the famous American voices of Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra… In total, the title has 350 recordings in 22 languages. But don't tarnish the 13 other anthems, highlighted by the operatic and jazzy vocal power of Caroline O'Connor.
Played by the greatest
After 42nd Street at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Funny Girl at the Théâtre Marigny, the American director and choreographer Stephen Mear joins the long line of artists who have seized « Dolly ». After the success of the “musical” on Broadway in 1964, which earned her 10 Tony Awards (which reward live performance across the Atlantic), the formidable matchmaker was in fact played numerous times on stage or in the cinema by the stars Carole Channing , Barbara Streisand and Bette Midler, and in Paris by Annie Cordy and Nicole Croisille.
« Dolly » is thus the opportunity, for Jean-Luc Choplin, director of the new Théâtre du Lido for two years, to continue his inventory of cult comedies, while respecting the intimacy of his cabaret room: “The DNA of the new Lido for a year has been musical theater in its original version. After Cabaret de John Kander, A Funny Thing Happened on the Wayto the Forum de Stephen Sondheim, Hello, Dolly ! by Jerry Herman was inevitable. » We rejoice as we listen to the superb Dolly resonating these last words: “Open your arms for me, guys. Dolly will never leave again. »
Hello, Dolly !, in original version with surtitles at the Théâtre du Lido, until January 5, 2025, from €25 to €95.
