"Hello, Dolly!"

BY STEVE PARKS | STAFF WRITER

July 23, 2004

When "Hello, Dolly!" premiered on Broadway in January 1964, Lorraine Serabian was an ingenue in training. Now, in this 40th anniversary production of the Jerry Herman classic, the Hofstra alum and Tony nominee ("Zorba," 1969) has returned to the scene of her first stage fright. And in better voice than Carol Channing ever was.

Serabian, whose last appearance with Hofstra USA four years ago sparked a tour of "Master Class," plays Dolly Gallagher Levi with a willfulness as dissimilar to the Maria Callas role in style as it is similar in determination. While Callas imposed her formidable ego, Dolly gets her way through relentless massaging of the id. What's your pleasure, sir? Dance lessons? A career in law? How about a wife? She proffers business cards in service of every desire that 1890s decency allows.

Since her husband Ephraim's death, Dolly has been cultivating her independence with the rigor of Yankee Doodle. But the matchmaker for hire has neglected her own pleasure principle. Since donning the widow's veil, she has forsaken her favorite haunt, Harmonia Gardens, a downtown cafe wicked enough to permit public dancing. But when Yonkers half-a-millionaire widower Horace Vandergelder hires Dolly to find him a wife, she violates the ethical standards of professional meddling by steering the client to her own troth.

Frank DiSpigno as the aging skinflint Vandergelder makes a suitable if gravel-throated match for Serabian's smooth, delightfully domineering Dolly. Meanwhile, despite her ethical lapse, Dolly manages to match a couple of other couples. Beleaguered Vandergelder clerk Cornelius Hackl, earnestly played by Tommy Wallace, isn't quite up to his love duets with supple Pam Jusino as Irene Molloy, the millinery widow who hates hats. (What's with all these dead spouses? In the sequel, "Death Row Dolly," we'll learn that she did 'em in to drum up business.) Dolly also fixes up Vandergelder's whiny daughter Ermengarde (Alyssa Maligieri) with wimpy Ambrose (Chris McNeany), and lame Vandergelder lackey Barnaby Tucker (Jacob Siegel) with flighty millinery apprentice Minnie Fay (Kerri Meade).

As directed by Hofstra's resident theatrical guru, Bob Spiotto, this commemorative "Hello, Dolly!" - crisply amplified by Frank DeMonaco's orchestra - pays homage with full-throated, corny enthusiasm. Most emblematic is the moving "Before the Parade Passes By," marched on the Adams Playhouse stage on such a scale as to evoke an actual parade. Together with the wait-staff juggling act preceding the musical's staircase-to- Harmonia title number, John Sheridan's choreography steps up faithfully to the Broadway original.

But without a formidable, obnoxiously adorable Dolly, it's all for naught. Some may insist that Channing owns the role still. Yet, where the original Dolly, an alto prototype to Tom Waits' vocalese - and I love Tom Waits - growled and crowed unctuously, Serabian sings as if she means it, with clarion clarity.

Thanks to her homecoming, Hofstra USA's "Dolly" reigns, at least through next weekend.