•June 27, 2018•

By Ellen Ferrera
for the News Progress

Acclaimed actress and Emmy award winner, Colleen Zenk, commands the stage as that scheming matchmaker and compulsive meddler, Dolly Gallagher Levi, in “Hello Dolly” currently playing at the Little Theatre.
The musical is replete with colorful costumes, gorgeous sets and some of the most memorable music in American Theatre. This is a polished and well-chosen cast who will sing and dance their way into your heart.
The plot for “Hello Dolly” originated in an 1835 play, and Thornton Wilder adapted it into a play entitled “The Merchant of Yonkers”, a flop which he revised to “The Matchmaker”. David Merrick turned it into the musical with the late great Carol Channing who made it her signature role. It is one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway and currently in its fifth revival.
The time is late 1900s, and the brassy Dolly Gallagher Levi is in town. She is a meddler – making her living as a matchmaker, dance instructor, mandolin teacher and numerous other sidelines. She is looking for a wife for the grumpy Horace Vandergelder (Gus Gordon), but she makes it clear that she intends to snag Horace for herself. Ambrose Kemper (Luke Rose) wants to marry Horace’s niece Ermengarde (Shannon McEldowney) but Horace opposes the union so Ambrose has enlisted Dolly’s help.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.