By Bill Hirschman, FloridaTheaterOnStage.com, for SouthFloridaReporter.com, Nov. 3, 2015 – It’s not a drag show.
Broadway veteran Lee Roy Reams may become only the second man to play Dolly Levi in a sanctioned production of Hello, Dolly!when it bows this week at The Wick Theatre in Boca Raton, but he is committed to playing it straight.
“It’s not a parody, it’s not a take off, it’s not an imitation, it’s my concept and the way I see the character,” Reams said between rehearsals that he is directing as well.
Reams, who has appeared as Dolly’s male romantic lead and directed the work many times, stresses he is approaching the matchmaking matron as an acting challenge.
“We’ve talked about how English actors do women’s roles. In Shakespeare’s time there were no women, and in the Kabuki theater there were no women, so men were trained to play women’s parts.”
