Director's Notes

How did Hello, Dolly! become one of Broadway's most beloved musicals? It all started with the French playwright Moliere and his comedy L'avare, or The Miser, which Thornton Wilder freely borrowed from to write his first version of the play that was to become The Matchmaker. Written in 1938 as The Merchant From Yonkers, it was a Broadway flop. It re-opened as The Matchmaker in 1955 and ran for 486 performances, winning Ruth Gordon the best actress Tony Award for her turn as Dolly Gallagher Levi. Then came a movie version in 1958 starring Shirley Booth and finally David Merrick, Jerry Herman, Michael Stewart, Gower Champion and Carol Channing transformed it in 1963 (adding music and an exclamation point) to create one of the longest running Broadway musicals, Hello, Dolly!

No matter what you call it, what's absolutely certain is this: the story of Dolly Levi's scheme to marry Horace Vandergelder (and her finagling of a few more matches along the way) urges you to set aside your problems and surrender to the adventures of the heart, wrapped up in the nostalgia of a simpler time.

I am delighted to bring my interpretation of Hello, Dolly! to the Maltz Jupiter stage. Heading the stellar cast is Vicki Lewis as the indomitable matchmaker Dolly Levi and Gary Beach as the penny-pinching Horace Vandergelder, which means you are in for some great acting, wonderful singing and delicious comic delights. And I promise you a very happy ending!

-Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Director/Choreographer