• Over 100 students are involved as cast and crew
Star Valley High School’s Drama Department is producing the spring musical “Hello, Dolly!” this week. Showtimes are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 20-22 at 7 p.m. with a matinee on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Over 100 students in the cast and crew for “Hello, Dolly!” have been working diligently since January 2 on music, staging, choreography, costumes and set to bring this story from 1890’s New York City to the SVHS auditorium.
“Hello, Dolly!” is the comical and lively story of Dolly Levi, a widowed socialite-turned-matchmaker, who determines to sabotage the match she has made between one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, Horus Vandergelder, and Miss Irene Malloy, because Dolly realizes she loves Horus and hopes to keep him for herself.
“Tami Nielsen is in charge of this whole business,” said show producer, Gina Fullmer, on the SVI Radio Network. Nielsen teaches 3rd Grade at Afton Elementary and serves as the Drama Coach at SVHS. “That woman is an encyclopedia of musical knowledge! She lives, breathes and dreams it. She is fabulous and we’re just happy to be her support staff.”
Show leads Dewie Collard, Brock Haderlie, Olivia Burnham and Ammon Baird joined Fullmer on the radio, as she praised the entire cast and crew for their work, calling them “wonderful. We love these kids. Their talent is just impeccable! They are amazing!”
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Collard shared that she has enjoyed researching her character and learning about New York City in the late 1800’s. “It was pretty fun.” Haderlie professed to be “grumpy” and the “villain of the story,” but admitted that his role is “funny.”
Burnham, told listeners “I love playing this part!” Fullmer added that “there’s a song that [Burnham] sings that is so good,” explaining that she and Nielsen prefer Burnham’s performance of the song to professional performers they have heard. “When Olivia sings it, Tami and I love the song and you guys will, too. It’s beautiful.”
Baird, who plays a sheltered young man, said, “It’s kind of fun to embrace my inner child and just be a dork on stage.”
Cast and crew have spent hundreds of hours working on the production and are looking forward to sharing their work with the community. “We have 78 kids in our cast and 17 kids in the tech crew that help us with lights and sound,” said Fullmer. “Dane Hepworth is the advisor who’s over lights and sound. Tyson Balls does our set, and he always knocks it out of the park! Jen Collard is new this year helping us with costumes, and it’s been a lot.” With nearly 200 costumes to prepare and manage, “it’s a lot of work behind the scenes. You’re just going to love the auditorium when you walk in. Once again, it’s beautiful. Tami is amazing! She does a great job with it!”
“You want to definitely get out for this,” said Fullmer. “Bring your family. Bring everybody and come. Admission is free, but we do accept donations. You’ll come on Thursday night and you’re going to like it so much that you’ll want to come again. Live theater is something that you just can’t reproduce.”
