“Hello, Dolly” Opens at Moline’s Black Box This Weekend
The Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline opens their production of “Hello Dolly” June 1 and running through the 10th.
Hello, Dolly! is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder‘s 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. The musical follows the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder. The show has become one of the most enduring musical theater hits, with four Broadway revivals and international success. It was also made into the 1969 film by 20th Century Fox starring Barbra Streisand.
The cast of the Black Box production include: Shelley Cooper as Dolly Levi, Doug Kutzli as Horace Vandergelder, Tristan Tapscott as Cornelius Hackl, Jacqueline Isaascon as Irene Malloy, Roger, Pavey, Jr. as Barnaby Tucker, Mukupa Lungu as Minnie Fae with Lucy Dlarmini, Robert Gregory, Jennifer Cook Gregory, and Tyler Henning with music direction by C.J. Parker, rehearsal pianist Jonathan Turner, choreography by Madeline Rhodes, and direction and design by Lora Adams.
“Many people have wondered how we would do a big musical on the Black Box Theatre stage. When I started as an actor I did Minnie Fae at Wilson Street East Dinner Playhouse in Madison, Wisconsin, which was a smaller stage than BBT so I knew it could be done,” said director Adams
Show times are June 1, 2, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30 pm and June 3 and 4 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $10 and available at theblackboxtheatre.com On June 3 GIT Improv will have an evening performance at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $10.
