urn-of-the-century New York City will be the setting for the Three Lakes Theater Company’s 2002 musical production of Hello, Dolly!  Scheduled for June 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22, the show will be the TLTC’s eighth production. 

The Storyline

Based upon Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, Hello, Dolly! tells the story of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a New York socialite/matchmaker who has been hired to arrange a marriage for wealthy feed store owner Horace Vandergelder.

The recently widowed Dolly, however, has other plans. She believes Horace and his half million dollar fortune would make a perfect mate—for her! Upon arriving in Yonkers to arrange the marriage, she begins to plant seeds of doubt in Horace’s mind about hat shop owner Irene Molloy, the pretty young widow she has picked out for him.

While Horace is meeting with Dolly, two of his store employees are taking advantage of his absence.  Cornelius and Barnaby have decided to sneak off for their first peek at the big city.  However, upon leaving the safety of Vandergelder’s Hay and Feed Store, the pair run into none other than Vandergelder on the street.  Hoping to escape his notice, the pair slip into Irene Malloy’s hat shop, the same place their boss will soon enter.

Mayhem soon ensues as Irene, her assistant Minnie Fay, and Dolly attempt to hide the boys from Horace who decides his soon-to-be-bride is hiding a roomful of strange men.  Before leaving the hat shop, he announces his intention to marry the wealthy, but unattractive Ernestina Money.  

Spying a spark of attraction between Cornelius and Irene, Dolly encourages the two wayward Vandergelder employees to take Irene and Minnie Fay to dinner at the fashionable Harmonia Gardens.  Unbeknownst to Dolly and the four diners, Horace plans to look for the mysterious Ernestina at the same posh restaurant.

As if the plot were not complex enough, enter Ermengarde, Horace's heiress niece who loves Ambrose, a poor artist.  Desperate to marry her true love, rather than a match selected by her uncle, Ermengarde enlists Dolly’s help in changing her uncle’s mind.

The show climaxes with a hilarious and musically-filled scene at the Harmonia Gardens where the wait staff happily greets Dolly, a regular who hasn’t been around much since her entry into widowhood. Horace, unable to contain himself upon finding his employees out with his former bride-to-be, ends up in jail.

The next day, Dolly visits Horace and convinces him that not only should Ermengarde marry Ambrose, but that he should also marry her.

Page last updated on 06/04/2008