Vienna Opera Tickets

The classic musical Hello, Dolly!, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, thrills audiences at the Volksoper Vienna as it has done for decades since it was first staged in the 1960s. This new production at the Volksoper focuses on what it takes for romantic relationships to work, how people can remain happy together and, to some extent, how the very concept of successful relationships has changed over time with developing societal norms.

Hello, Dolly! was first performed on 18 November 1963 at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit as an out-of-town try-out. It then went on to transfer to Broadway in New York City the following year, so its official premiere was held on 16 January 1964. In its day, Hello, Dolly! was the longest-running musical comedy in Broadway history. It ran for 2,844 performances there, winning ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It also enjoyed a successful run in London's West End. In 1969, the stage musical was adapted for the big screen and the Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox would go on to win three Academy Awards for it. Consequently, the musical is very well known, featuring many famous songs by Jerry Herman, including Ribbons Down My Back, Before the Parade Passes By and It Only Takes a Moment to name but three.

Michael Stewart, the American playwright and lyricist, had enjoyed success on Broadway before Hello, Dolly! He wrote the book for Bye Bye Birdie (1960), which won that year's Tony Award for Best Musical. He loosely based the plot on a 1938 farce by Thornton Wilder, The Merchant of Yonkers, which itself had been revised under a different title, The Matchmaker, in 1954. The musical's inspiration goes back even further, however, since Wilder based his work on an English play of 1835 written by John Oxenford called A Day Well Spent.

The plot involves a matchmaker named Dolly Levi, the title character who takes a trip to Yonkers to see a well-known unmarried man of wealth named Horace Vandergelder. While there, she convinces him, his niece and two of his employees to accompany her to New York City. Because she has designs on the rich Vandergelder, Dolly attempts to fix one of the employees up with the woman she thinks he has been seeing. She also has other matchmaking exploits planned, but will she succeed in capturing the heart of the man she considers to be her beau? Set towards the end of the 19th century, Dolly's schemes might seem unconventional and even meddlesome to modern audiences at first. However, her charm, wit and determination gradually bring matters to a head as she confronts her own hopes for love and companionship.

Hello, Dolly! at the Volksoper Wien offers a superb opportunity to see universal themes of love and attraction played out in what remains a witty and comic musical that has stood the test of time.