The YLHS Theatre Department opened up their Spring Musical of Hello, Dolly! on Friday March 16th, 2018. Taking place in New York during the early 1900s, this musical is originally based on a book by Michael Stewart. The whole musical is centered around Dolly Levi, a boisterous widow and matchmaker who ‘meddles’ in people’s lives. Throughout the musical, her eyes are set on marrying a “half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder living in the small town of Yonkers. Vandergelder originally intends to marry Irene Malloy, the owner of a hat shop in New York City. Vandergelder leaves for New York City upon hearing rumors about Irene from Dolly. Meanwhile, Vandergelder’s employees Barnaby and Cornelius decide to go to New York City with the little money they have, determined to experience life in the city for just one day. As the musical continues, Dolly’s plan slowly unfolds to give unexpected but hilarious results.

Huge praise to all the students who were part of this production. The main actors in the musical included Rose Pell as Dolly Levi, Marco Gazich as Horace Vandergelder, Ian Dembek as Cornelius Hackl, Claire Marshall as Irene Malloy, Caleb Huston as Barnaby Tucker, Elyse Bell as Minnie Fay, Bella Vino as Ermengarde, and Will Fixa as Ambrose Kemper. Clearly, every actor put a tremendous amount of work into the musical. All the lines were delivered fluidly, and each actor was able to portray their character’s personality extremely well. For example, Rose Pell made it obvious to the audience that Dolly Levi was a clever, extroverted woman with intense determination. It was impressive how the actors were able to bring those characters to life, just like a good actor should. While they were interacting with each other, the actors were also able to keep the audience captivated and entertained with both their actions and tones.

One of the most impressive aspects of the musical was the singing and choreography of the performance. Personally, I was astounded by the magnificent voices of each of the actors. The choreography of the actors and ensemble was amazing as well. Each dance number was beautifully laid out, especially the Incidental number at the end of Act I. Additionally many of the numbers were absolutely hilarious such as the Motherhood March number and the Dancing number. The dance ensemble and ensemble were also a definite asset to uniting the musical numbers and the musical as a whole.

Costumes and decor were also amazingly done. The costumes worn by the actors were colorful, which complemented the musical’s overall mood, and the decor of the stage was pleasantly simple so as not to overpower the actors. Mabel Ra (11) strongly agrees that the musical was “done really well. Everyone was superb in their acting, and they had incredible voices.” Hello, Dolly! is yet another outstanding performance by the YLHS Theatre students, and I have no problem saying that the musical is well-worth seeing.