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There is no runway around the orchestra pit but you don’t miss it - Blackhurst is energized and galvanizes the audience until she joins the parade! In the second act those handsome tall athletic dancers do the “Waiters’ Gallop” leaping and juggling multiple dishes and glasses under the witty direction of Jack Doyle’s Rudolf (with Fritz Feld mustache and gestures!) The screened tables for the quartet and Vandergelder are at opposite sides of the stage and for once, with all the galloping waiters the wallet exchange works very well. Blackhurst does her monologue about asking for a sign and when Brown delivers her absolutely sincere key line that is the sign, Blackhurst glows and begins “Before the Parade Passes By” softly and movingly, then as the parade appears on stage she sings stronger and stronger. The big numbers? Well, the parade begins with Sheldon banging a drum in the aisle, and the ensemble marching across the stage. Sheldon is a strong masculine presence, so unlike David Burns or Max Showalter (or Walter Matthau in the film version) so you really believe at the end when Blackhurst nails him that there will be a strong sexual future in their second marriages, not only based upon wealth, but upon respect and love! It’s a great piece of choreography and direction including a hysterically funny finish! Brown sings gloriously in her beautiful voice the first ballad in the show, “Ribbons Down My Back” and that set has a backdrop of shelves of ribbons and fabrics! Brown and Moses have a wonderful romantic sexual attraction evident in each of their scenes together! Morse, who is a great nimble athletic dancer, is a perfect match for Blades who nails all her laugh lines! The quartet’s second act opener “Elegance” is in perfect sync and yet displays the special physical talents of each of them. The other special thing about this production is that it is really about love! You really believe the love stories of the four different couples. And when Blackhurst dances with the wonderful singer dancers in the ensemble numbers her feet as nimble as Ginger Rogers were! She takes her natural warmth and infuses Dolly with a wonderful sense of humanity and cheer. All the production’s design work is first rate! Blackhurst’s entrance is from the back of the house, handing out her cards to audience members (including “uke” and “banjo” instruction - an inside joke about Blackhurst’s own skills!) Blackhurst is well known for her Ethel Merman cabaret show but she is not imitating Merman in this part. And the joy spreads out to the audience with several ensemble numbers (“Put On Your Sunday Clothes,” “Before the Parade Passes By”) staged in the aisles and on the upper level. One word can describe everyone’s work: Joy! I have never seen a more joyful production. The cast is led by the Klea Blackhurst as Dolly, Tony nominee Tony Sheldon (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) as Horace, Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins) as Irene Malloy, Spencer Moses as Cornelius, Jeremy Morse as Barnaby, Catherine Blades as Minnie, Brooke Shapiro as Ermengarde, and tall Charles MacEacherin as Ambrose. This production, directed by Daniel Goldstein and choreographed by Kelli Barclay inspired by Gower Champion’s wonderful original staging, is reduced in scale but suffers nothing in inventiveness. The Goodspeed is a jewel box of a theater. I also saw Ruth Gordon’s legendary original production of The Matchmaker directed by Tyrone Guthrie with young Arthur Hill and Robert Morse! Before I write anything else, beg, borrow or steal to get to Goodspeed Opera House to see their fresh revival of the classic Jerry Herman Michael Stewart musical Hello, Dolly! I have seen several Dollys including Carol Channing (who owned the part,) Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye (who sang it best,) Pearl Bailey, and Ethel Merman who closed the original record-breaking run.