"Hello, Dolly!" wraps up Summer Lyric's 2015 season

For its last production of 2015, Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane University brings to life the woman with the “happiest smile, the warmest heart and the largest appetite in the city of New York” — Dolly Gallagher Levi, the titular character of Hello, Dolly!

The show opens tonight (July 30).

The story of a meddling matchmaker who sets her eye on a cantankerous bachelor, Hello, Dolly! is a Broadway staple that was turned into a 1969 Academy Award-winning film. Jerry Herman"s score is famous in its own right; Louis Armstrong had a No. 1 hit with the title song.

In Summer Lyric"s version, local high-school music educator and Tulane alumna Elizabeth Argus plays Dolly.

Argus says the story, set in turn-of-the-century New York, stands up to time. “The whole show is just an exclamation of joy and life … A hundred years ago, men and women hoped for and longed for the same things we hope for and long for today. We"re no different.”

Director Diane Lala, also a Tulane alumna, agrees. “When I first got it, the script drew me to it immediately,” she says, describing it as “very witty and smart.”

Argus says SLT is a unique, brisk theatrical environment that only allows weeks to prepare.

“Summer Lyric is such an intense, kind of a contracted rehearsal process — you have to grow fast.” In that way, Dolly"s quick-thinking antics are perfectly suited to this stage.

“It"s very humbling and awe-inspiring to find myself doing this [role],” Argus continues, especially since Broadway giant Carol Channing defined Dolly. “I"m always — in my mind and in my heart — I"m always this awkward little 12-year-old girl.”

Nonetheless, she adds, “I"m having a blast!”

Bobs Edes Jr. plays the grumpy bachelor Horace Vandergelder, who sees Dolly not as warm or happy but “damned exasperating.” Will he have a change of heart? Find out during the musical"s run, through Sunday (Aug. 2) in Dixon Hall.