Struthers struts her stuff, crowds roar 'Hello, Sally!'

BY EDIE GROSS

Sally Struthers was worried.

She'd flown into Richmond International Airport on Easter Sunday, giving her only 11 days to rehearse for the lead role in Riverside Center Dinner Theater's "Hello, Dolly!"

Her character wears no fewer than seven layers of clothing onstage, including a corset, high heels and a wool dress, and several of the costumes had to be tweaked after she arrived.

And then there was the height issue. Struthers is 5-foot-1, and much of the show's elaborate set was built for taller actors.

She worried that one of the staircases was too steep. And she could barely see over the feed-store counter in one scene and out a train window in another.

"I'm going to look like I should be on 'Little People, Big World' reality TV," she worried at first. "I'm in high heels and dresses to the ground, I can't see my own feet and I'm in a corset that doesn't allow me to bend and magically go down steps much too steep."

As opening night neared, she shared her fears with Patrick A'Hearn, the theater's associate artistic director who wooed her here.

"I left the theater late at night two days before we opened, inconsolably sobbing. 'This is never going to work. Nothing's ready. I'm not ready. The set needs fixing. We don't have time. I'm going to have scrambled eggs all over my face,'" she said. "The next day, Patrick had it all fixed."

Sure enough, a few minor set changes had Struthers standing tall, and the veteran actress had no trouble reclaiming the stage role she last played five years ago in Maine.

Since opening night May 6, Struthers--the biggest name to ever perform at Riverside--has been radiant as the meddlesome, matchmaking Dolly Levi in the romantic-comedy musical. So has the rest of the cast.

Every performance ends with a standing ovation, and Struthers has encouraged A'Hearn to take the show on the road.

Though she still gets a little nervous before each show--there's nowhere to hide when you're singing and dancing in live theater--that seems only to fuel her flawless performance.

"The trick is to make the audience not see any of the effort," said Struthers, 63. "When they get on their feet at the end, cheer and scream, I know we've done what we've been paid to do."

'BORN WITH FUNNY'

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Favorite local attraction: Whittingham, owned by Bob Whittingham. "I'm in love with Whittingham and with Bob at Whittingham. I just want to spend the rest of my life sitting on his knee listening to what he has to say, and I want to buy everything in the store and give it to someone." Best meal eaten in Fredericksburg: Caesar salad, spinach, vodka and "red meat" at La Petite Auberge. "I don't even remember chewing." Have you been stuck in traffic yet? Yes, for 2 hours on Interstate 95 on the way to do an interview for "The Arch Campbell Show" and occasionally heading west on State Route 3 around 3:30 p.m. to pick up a pair of TOMS at Saxon Shoes. Favorite scene in "Hello, Dolly!" "In the Harmonia Gardens restaurant after the 'Hello Dolly!' song when I just continue to shovel food into my mouth and the audience just laughs and laughs." What are you actually eating in that scene? It's supposed to be a dinner of turkey, giblets, dumplings, beets and red wine. She substitutes chicken (it's not as dry), tofu with some soy sauce, oxidized apples and two full glasses of "unsweet, raw pucker-your-mouth cranberry juice." Favorite pro whom you've worked with: Struthers has worked with everyone from Bob Hope to Bing Crosby, but her favorite colleague was award-winning actress Ruth Gordon, who was Maude in "Harold and Maude." The two women met while filming the TV movie "The Great Houdinis." Interestingly, in 1956 Gordon was nominated for a Tony for her performance as Dolly Levi in "The Matchmaker," the play on which the musical "Hello, Dolly!" is based.

Perfect job: "In a perfect world, I would be doing theater because that separates the men from the boys. It's the hardest thing to do. I love the challenge of that. I love a live audience. I would have it be at home so I could sleep in my own bed every night. It would be hugely successful and long-running so I'd have the comfort of constant employment. And it would have the pay of motion pictures."

Pet peeves: People who don't say thank you, drivers who don't use their blinkers and "people who come up to me and say, 'Oh my God, I didn't realize you were so short!' I've learned to say, 'From down here, I can see right up your nose.'" Favorite stage roles: Louise Seger in "Always Patsy Cline" and Florence Ungar in "The Female Odd Couple." Guilty pleasure: "Headline News" and crossword puzzles.

Favorite movies: "Harold and Maude" and "Being There" with Peter Sellers. She also recently saw "Bridesmaids" and loved it.

"Hello, Dolly!" starring Sally Struthers runs through July 3 at Riverside Center Dinner Theater. For ticket information, visit riversidedt.com or call 540/370-4300.

The next production, "All Shook Up," starts July 9 and runs through Sept. 11.

Fun facts: New York-based actor Michael Galyon, who will star in Riverside's "All Shook Up," performed with Struthers in "Hello, Dolly!" in Oklahoma. And Struthers herself played Mayor Matilda in "All Shook Up" last summer in Lewiston, N.Y., a role for which she just won the Katharine Cornell Award, given to visiting artists for outstanding contribution to the Buffalo theater season.

Long before it was common for stars to champion worthy causes, Sally Struthers volunteered as a spokeswoman for ChildFund International, a Richmond-based charity that helps children in developing countries.

Her emotional commercials were often satirized, something that hurt her feelings.

"I had no idea that I would try to help people, to be part of the solution, and that they would make fun of me for that," she said.

Struthers contracted hepatitis while traveling in Africa on behalf of the organization and endured a close call in a small-plane accident in Uganda. At that point she stopped traveling on behalf of ChildFund, though she still sponsors children.

"I had to search my soul. Wouldn't it be ironic if, in my desire to take care of the children of the world, I left my daughter an orphan?" she said.

She was never compensated for her work, but she made a huge difference, said ChildFund spokeswoman Cynthia Price.

"She was a wonderful advocate for children," said Price. "She was a trendsetter."

Read more stories about Fredericksburg
Date published: 6/24/2011

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