The 30th anniversary production of "Hello, Dolly!" -- at the Lyric Opera House through Sunday -- is musical comedy with the accent on comedy.
Wielding that accent is Carol Channing in the role she created 31 years ago and has now played more than 4,000 times. The decades have taken a bit of a toll on her singing voice, but then, that wasn't exactly operatic to start with. She compensates with an abundance of shtick and a super-abundance of energy.
In a confrontation scene between her and Jay Garner, as rich, eligible widower Horace Vandergelder, she stands so close to him, her trademark false eyelashes practically tickle his nose. Later, in the elegant Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, the entire play stops as she wolfs down a turkey leg, picks her teeth, spreads a heart-stopping dollop of butter on bread, drops it on her dress, washes off the spot and polishes off at least a dozen potato puffs.
If her singing has lost the few dulcet tones it once had, it's gained even more of a comic, sandpaper edge. When she responds to the waiters' rousing rendition of the title song, her "wow, wow, wow fellas!" has the hilarious rasping sound of a chirping bird with a sore throat. At the opposite end of the register, when she intones "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye" at the start of "So Long Dearie," her voice is so low, it rumbles the floorboards.
As for the rest of the show, despite being based on a play by the great Thornton Wilder, "Hello, Dolly!" -- with its brassy score by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart -- is a classic more by virtue of longevity than brilliance. The story -- about Dolly Gallagher Levi, a matchmaker of indeterminate age who sets her sights on Vandergelder, the wealthy Yonkers merchant -- is pretty fluffy stuff.
Under Lee Roy Reams' direction, however, the production features a large, commendable supporting cast, particularly scowling, bulldog-faced Garner as the self-proclaimed "rich, friendless and mean" half-a-millionaire; mellifluous Florence Lacey as Dolly's rival, milliner Irene Molloy; and effervescent Lori Ann Mahl as her clerk, Minnie Fay.
As to the look of the production, though some of Jonathan Bixby's neon-colored costumes contrast with, instead of complement, the late Oliver Smith's sepia-toned, lithograph-like period backdrops, his extravagant get-ups for Dolly are as larger-than-life as she is.
This touring production began in Denver last summer, reaches Broadway next fall and then travels abroad. It would be a grueling schedule for anyone, much less a septuagenarian. Why does Channing do it? When she gazes glowingly at the audience, the reason is clear -- she's having the time of her life. Channing herself is the best testament to the lyrics in the first-act finale: "I'm gonna raise the roof,/ I'm gonna carry on,/ before the parade passes by."
And oh, yes, stay for the curtain call. Channing gives a curtain speech that's so gracious, she makes you feel as if you knocked yourself out for her, instead of the other way around.
'HELLO, DOLLY!'
Where: Lyric Opera House, 140 W. Mount Royal Ave.
When: 8 p.m. today through Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Sunday; matinees 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Tickets: $30-$47.50
Call: (410) 889-3911