Playhouse gets ready to greet ‘Dolly’

TOM TITUS

While the Huntington Beach Playhouse prepares to move into the “Plaza

Suite” in two weeks, the theater group’s immediate attention is

focused a bit further north, in Yonkers, and on finding a company to

say hello to Dolly.

Auditions for “Hello, Dolly,” Jerry Herman’s musical adaptation of

Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,” will be conducted Sunday and

Monday while rehearsals continue for Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite.”

Sunday’s tryouts, for male and female dancers, are scheduled for 1

p.m. at the playhouse’s annex/rehearsal building at 18411 Gothard

St., #F. Auditioners are asked to arrive already warmed up and ready

to dance and, possibly, sing.

Monday’s audition spotlight shifts to principals and singers, and

these readings will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. on the stage of the

Central Library Theater, 7111 Talbert Ave., while the “Plaza Suite”

cast occupies the annex.

Director James Gruessing, choreographer Kami Seymour and musical

director Daniel Thomas will be auditioning a large cast of

principals, headed by the title character, match- maker Dolly Levi --

a role indelibly identified with Carol Channing. There are nine other

principal roles open, four men and five women, as well as the male

and female ensembles.

Callbacks will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m., and the production will

open July 29 in the Library Theater. Performances will be given

through Aug. 14.

Meanwhile, rehearsals are continuing for “Plaza Suite,” a

collection of three one-act plays unfolding in New York’s Plaza

Hotel.

In the first play, a suburban couple takes the suite while their

home is being painted, and their marriage is unraveling. The second

play recounts the meeting of two childhood sweethearts -- now a

famous Hollywood producer and a New Jersey housewife.

In the last vignette, a mother and father cope with their

daughter’s wedding-day jitters. Seems she’s locked herself in the

bathroom and the parents are pushing the panic button.

“Plaza Suite” opens June 17 and will run for three weekends in the

Library Theater. Reservations at (714) 375-0696 being taken now,

while more information on the “Dolly” auditions is available at (562)

420-8914.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.