Certain roles are simply owned by their originators, whose memorable performances cast a shadow over all those who dare attempt to fill their shoes. Like, say, Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!
But at The Wick Theatre, as reverent as Lee Roy Reams is to the Jerry Herman-Michael Stewart musical and to those who walked down that red velvet staircase before him, he will have you saying, “Carol who?”
Without slighting the rest of the first-rate cast, the reason to see this Hello, Dolly! is the remarkable performance by Reams. In the title role.
Those who saw him last season as drag diva Zaza in La Cage aux Folles should not be surprised that he wears matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi’s gown, headpiece and finery with larger-than-life self-assurance. But while his performance as Zaza made room for him to camp things up and insert part of his concert act, Reams plays Dolly entirely — pardon the expression — straight.
Sure, he earns all the laughs in her comic patter numbers (from the introductory “I Put My Hand in There” to his 11 o’clock kiss-off, “So Long, Dearie”), but he also knows how to handle her softer ballads (“Before the Parade Passes By”) and her many philosophical monologues, which Stewart cribbed from Thornton Wilder’s source material. Those who attend expecting Reams to approach the role with a wink and a giggle are in for quite a surprise.
Reams often played hay and feed store clerk Cornelius Hackl in earlier productions and just as frequently directed the show on tour and in stock. He knows every nook and nuance of this show, as he demonstrates in his staging at the Wick. And while his stellar performance is startling in its gender-bending originality, the rest of the show pays unwavering tribute to the work of Gower Champion, the director who first put the show on its feet.
Master comic Lewis J. Stadlen is an ideal foil as curmudgeonly Horace Vandergelder, “Yonkers’ well-known half-millionaire,” Dolly’s designated prey. Soprano Susan Powell (George M) is back with a more comfortable assignment as milliner Irene Molloy, who will find romance with Cornelius (aptly bumbling James Clow).
Dustin Cross dips into The Wick’s wardrobe warehouse and has put together crayon-bright costumes for the company and cleverly engineered dresses for Reams. Josieu Jean continues to be one of the theater’s prime assets with his scenic projections, and the only liability is the continued use of recorded music. As disappointing as that cost-saving is in an otherwise lavish production, nothing can mar the star turn by Reams.
HELLO, DOLLY!, The Wick Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Through Sunday, Dec. 6. $70-$80. 561-995-2333.