News about Jerry Herman

Imelda Staunton was supported by her husband Jim Carter and Bridgerton actress daughter Bessie at the press night for her new show Hello, Dolly! on Thursday night. The actress, 68, plays the lead role as matchmaker Dolly Levi in Dominic Cooke's revival of Jerry Herman's 1964 musical. Playing at The London Palladium for a limited summer season, this brand-new production reunites Imelda with Director Dominic following the critically acclaimed Follies at the National Theatre. 

PATRICK MARMION: Nobody expected anything less of Imelda Staunton. The star of Vera Drake, who has just won an Emmy nomination for playing the Queen in The Crown, is once again quite simply stunning - this time as inveterate matchmaker Dolly Levi in Dominic Cooke's hearty revival of Jerry Herman's 1964 musical. Standing just 4ft 11-and-three-quarter inches in her stockinged feet, Staunton has the musical wattage of a nuclear power station. If she didn't hold some of it back, she'd surely blow the Palladium's fuse board. She is, in other words, a perfect fit for Dolly: A one-woman dating app in a bodice and bustle, meddling her way through 1890s New York. Michael Stewart's story does, however, remain something of a hodge-podge: A Dolly-mixture of pastel coloured goo with synthetic flavours. But thanks to Imelda, who cares?