Newport Children's Theatre
Spring Musical 2025:
Hello Dolly!
Auditions: January 23-25th
Performances: June 13-15th
AUDITIONS
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AUDITIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS PRODUCTION.
Tara O'Hare
Director
Tara is the Artistic Director of Newport Children's Theatre. Her NCT Direction credits include: Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly, Cinderella, Spamalot, The Sound of Music…
TBD
Choreographer
Justin Simone
Music Director
Megan Buchanan
Set Design
"Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread around, encouraging young things to grow" - Dolly Levi
Plot
Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1954. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder.
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Characters:
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Dolly Gallagher Levi: A widow in her middle years who has decided to begin her life again. She is a matchmaker, meddler, opportunist, and a life-loving woman.
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Horace Vandergelder: The proprietor of a Hay & Feed store and a client of Dolly Gallagher Levi's. A well-known half-a-millionaire and widower, he is gruff, authoritative, and set in his ways.
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Cornelius Hackl: Vandergelder's chief clerk who yearns for one exciting day in New York City. Energetic, enthusiastic, and adventurous young man who has a sweet innocence about him.
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Barnaby Tucker: An assistant to Cornelius at Vandergelder's Hay & Feed store. He is sweet, naïve, energetic, and a follower.
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Irene Molloy: A widow and a beautiful, smart, fun-loving milliner with a hat shop in New York City. Dolly has introduced her to Horace Vandergelder but she yearns for romance.
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Minnie Fay: A young girl who works in Irene's hat shop. Irene's assistant, she is naïve, strait-laced, fresh, and a follower.
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Ambrose Kemper: A young and explosive struggling artist seeking to marry Ermengarde.
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Ermengarde: The young niece of Horace Vandergelder. She cries often and wants her independence and to marry Ambrose.
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Ernestina Money: An eccentric-looking girl in need of Dolly's matchmaker services.
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Rudolph Reisenweber: Maître d'hôtel of the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.
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Judge: A white-whiskered night court judge. Easily moved to tears by romance.
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Mrs. Rose: An old friend of Dolly's.
History
This classic musical is based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce "The Merchant of Yonkers". It was a total flop, so Wilder revised and re-titled it "The Matchmaker" in 1955. Hello Dolly was first produced in the 1960s by David Merrill. The musical was originally named something else but Merrill changed it after hearing Louis Armstrongs version of "Hello Dolly".
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Hello Dolly opened on January 16, 1964 at the St. James Theatre, starring Carol Channing. She originated the role of Dolly Levi, won a Tony award for her performance, and never missed a single show. The musical was an immediate success on Broadway and then became even more popular when the cast album reached number one on the Billboard charts in 1964.
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Hello Dolly was nominated for eleven Tony Awards that season and won ten, including the award for Best Musical. That incredible night tied Hello Dolly with the previous record holder "South Pacific" for most awards won. Hello Dolly held the title for the next thirty seven years until "The Producers" broke the record in 2011.
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After an incredible run and 2,844 performances, the show closed on December 27, 1970. Five years later, the first revival opened at the Minskoff Theater with an all black cast and starring Pearl Bailey. The show only ran for 42 performances but was revolutionary. The second and third revivals in the late 1970s and mid-1990s both starring Carol Channing and were very well received. Americans love spectacle and nostalgia!
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The fourth Broadway revival of Hello Dolly, starring Bette Midler, opened on April 20, 2017 at the Schubert Theatre. (The reviews have been mixed but no one really cares because they just want to see Bette Midler.) Hello Dolly is one of the most iconic Broadway shows of all time…
Show Trivia
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The red satin costume Channing wore was donated to the Smithsonian and currently lives at the National Museum of History
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The show album cast recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
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The film adaption of Hello Dolly premiered in 1969. The movie received seven Oscar nominations and won three.
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The film was directed by the legendary Gene Kelly
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Two songs from Hello Dolly are featured in the Disney/Pixar movie "Wall-E". ("Put on Your Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment")
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There have been four Broadway revivals.
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On December 2, 1965, almost two years after the Broadway premiere, Hello Dolly opened on the West End. The show ran for 794 performances at the Theatre Royal, Durrell Lane. Since then, Hello Dolly has been revived three times on the West End.
