Community theatre’s artistic director Toni Tomei returns to footlights with “Hello, Dolly!”
By Elizabeth Jardina, Staff Writer
It’s hard to believe that Toni Tomei was reluctant to take on the title role in Hillbarn Theatre’s production of “Hello, Dolly!”
John Kirman, the show’s director says, “I think she’s better than Barbara.”
Although Tomei initially was hesitant to play Doll, Kirman says she shines bright enough to make theatre goers forget past Dollys—Carol Channing in the original Broadway version and Barbara Streisand in the film.
Tomei, who spent three years working behind the scenes at Hillbarn as its artistic director, takes center stage tonight for the first time since she joined the community theatre’s staff.
When Kirman saw the Tomei-directed production of “Dracula” at Hillbarn in the fall 2002, it got him thinking about what shows he’d like to helm at the theatre. He chose “Hello, Dolly!” because he wanted his longtime friend to play the lead.
Kirman and Tomei met in 1994 when he directed her as Mama Rose in “Gypsy” for the now defunct Peninsula Center Stage.
Although at first Tomei balked at coming out of what she calls “retirement,” she finally agreed to play iconic Dolly, a widow determined to marry a rich man and spread his money around town.
The splashy, fun musical, which runs through June 6, is a fitting show for the end of Hillbarn’s season, especially considering how far the theatre has come.
Executive director Lee Foster says that in 1998, the board of directors voted to close the theatre because of financial woes. However, since then, the theatre’s mission has been further defined and its fundraising efforts have been revitalized.
Even now, as many arts organizations struggle in today’s faltering economy, Hillbarn is operating solidly in the black with a f\roster of 600 subscribers and more than 500 individual donors.
“Our budget’s grown 400 percent since July 2000,” says Foster, one of nine paid employees at the theatre.
Although the actors are volunteers, Hillbarn does pay a stipend to the stage manager and the designers who create the lighting, costumes, and sets.
“It gives community actors a chance to work with professionals,” Tomei says, noting that the theatre draws from a cross section of the community. “We have people who have never been onstage before, and people who have done a lot of community theatre.”
Some participants are actors who have worked in professional capacities before, with their appearance on the Hillbarn stage marking their return to the theatre.
“If it’s in you, you have to work in theatre in some way,” she says.
One of the best characteristics of community theatre is that it’s wide open to folks who might not normally end up in front of and audience. Take Richard Ames, for example. The Burlingame building inspector – a member of the ensemble who sports a handlebar moustache perfect for the Victorian era setting of “Hello, Dolly!” – got involved in Hillbarn because of his daughter.
In the fall of 2000, his wife asked Ames to drive their daughter, who is now in college, to auditions.
The director asked him to audition, too, for “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The rest is history.
Even though he’s not a main character in the show, by last week Ames had racked up 80 hours of rehersal time. That doesn’t count his commitment for this week, which has been intensively filled with rehersal.
“And there’s a little bit of homework too – songs and dance steps,” he says. “And for those of us who don’t dance, it’s a challenge.”
Although all members of the chorus kick up their heels in the production, Ames doesn’t really consider himself a hoofer. Chuckling, he says, “There are dancers, and there are movers.”
Executive director Foster even is in the ensemble with her 11-year-old daughter Claire Neubert.
Foster says that even with late-night rehearsals and hours of work on the show, it’s hard not to be inspired by the musical.” The story is really about re-entering the living,” Foster says. “It’s about loss followed by joy. You leave with an enormous smile on your face. I dance the whole show, but at 10 o’clock at night when I leave rehersal, I’m smiling, whistling happy.”
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