Encore, encore! Pickering Musical Society's last production Hello Dolly! is a triumph

They are going out with a belter. From performances to projected sets, choreography to costumes, it is stunning in every way.

The production also boasts a live band – a real asset in an age where backing tracks rule. The difference an orchestra makes to a show is immeasurable on the plus side.

The society has its own theatre, the Kirk in Hungate, which is a thrilling space with plans to refurbish and enhance it, and it is used to maximum effect for this show.

Hello Dolly! is set in the early 1900s and is the story of New York fixer Dolly Levi and her pursuit of Yonkers’ miserly millionaire Horace Vandergelder.

Running parallel are the stories of Horace’s two clerks Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker’s search for love – and Vandergelder’s niece Ermengarde and her beau Ambrose’s bid to marry.

Though Hello Dolly! does not have the emotional impact, range and tune-packed score of Herman’s masterpiece Mack and Mabel, it is one of the best shows in the Great American Muscial Show-book.

It is so highly-regarded that Dame Imelda Staunton lit up the London stage in its revival last year.

In the days when Hamilton, Book of Mormon, Wicked et al rule the West End and Broadway, Hello, Dolly! might seem like a quintessential Broadway throwback.

I would like to know who it was who saw fit to throw it away in the first place.

It has ballroom glamour, booming chorus numbers and squeaky New York accents – but it also has heart and soul. It is about bereavement and the journey towards and taking a second chance at life and love – shown and felt from the point of view of one indomitable – and middle-aged – woman in Dolly Levi.

Pickering leading lady Rachel Anderson plays Dolly. She shimmies and shimmers – her second-act dress is a showstopper as big as the title tune – in a role that demands the best of vocals.

From I Put My Hand In, Before the Parade Passes by to Hello Dolly, Anderson delivers a divine Dolly.

The large personality and performance needs an equally big leading man who could match Dolly’s presence. Step into the limelight Tim Tubbs – known to fans of the Scarborough theatre scene.

He pouts and preens as Horace Vandergelder and revels in the misogyny of the role. He rips up the stage with his songs – especially – feminists, close your ears now – the fabulous It Takes a Woman.

Admirable support comes from the Laurel and Hardy-esque Stephen Temple as Cornelius Hackl and Jack Dobson as Barnaby Tucker – and Paula Cook and Danielle Long as the women, Irene and Minnie, they respectively pursue.

Their number Elegance is another highlight of another amazing show.

The ensemble and dance numbers dazzle in Put On Your Sunday Clothes, Waiter’s Gallop and Motherhood March.

Luke Arnold directs with aplomb and an understanding of the American musical tradition – it has whistles, bows, sequins and a staircase that brings the house down.

He ramps up the emotion and milks the comedy.

Like the old showbusiness adage goes: Always leaving them wanting more – and the Pickering Musical Society’s production of Hello Dolly! does that and then some.

It is on at the Kirk Theatre, Pickering, on Friday June 13 at 7.30pm and Saturday June 14 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets are priced at £18 standard and £16 for concessions and are available now on 01751 474833 nd at www.kirktheatre.co.uk

Cast

Rachel Anderson – Dolly Gallagher Levi

Tim Tubbs – Horace Vandergelder

Stephen Temple – Cornelius Hackl

Jack Dobson – Barnaby Tucker

Paula Cook – Irene Molloy

Danielle Long – Minnie Fay

Will Smithson – Ambrose Kemper

Courtney Brown – Ermengarde

John Brooks – Rudolph Reisenweber

Daphne Kirk – Ernestina

Lucy Glover – Judy

Emsemble

Claire Carter, Imogen Moisey-Smith, Jane Sampson, Destiny Sampson, Sue Smithson, Pat Stockley and Keeley Wilson.

Dancers

Isobel Davison, Amelia Dobson, Emma Wood, Eleanor Rowntree, Annabelle Goode and Mabel Kibblewhite.

The Band

Sarah Bancroft, violin; Sarah Craggs, violin; Emily Farrow, violin; Catherine Sign, flute; Julie Alder, clarinet; Richard Wood, trumpet; Tony Turner, trombone;, Marcus Bousfield, bassl;Judy Day, percussion and Clive Wass, keys.

Production team

Luke Arnold – director; Clive Wass, musical director; Rebecca Neascu, choregraphy.