playbill vip

Dear Reader,

It’s so nice to have you back where you belong: here in this darkened theater, celebrating the efforts of these hard-working students, sharing in their storytelling.

While there are many theatre pieces that are intended to provoke or provide a kind of social or political commentary on the problems of the day, for me Hello, Dolly! serves an equally important and sometimes overlooked purpose, which is simply to enjoy theatre as entertainment. It offers us an escape from our own problems for a while, into this world of flawed yet endearing characters, each trying to find a path toward love.  I see this production as a celebration of the messy and sometimes crazy things people are willing to do along that path. Also, it’s been a while since we’ve put on a Golden Age “classic” musical.  I think we were due for one.

I hope you have as much fun watching the show as we’ve had bringing it to life. Thanks for coming, and as always, thanks for your continued support of the performing arts at Taft.

-Mr. Philip Platakis