Review: Dolores Hydock, once again, engages and enchants with her stories

Sometime near the end of her latest night of storytelling – her first since the pandemic started — Dolores Hydock proves what fans of hers have known for a long, long time.

Yes, she can read from the phone book and make it interesting.

Yep, the phone book, both the white pages and the yellow pages. She reads from them, and it’s charming, funny, engaging – everything we’ve come to know Hydock to be, both as an actress and as a storyteller.

At the Homewood Public Library, with “Let’s Get Personal,” comprising five charming pieces, she’s in full storyteller mode. She’s a DJ at Samford University campus radio station, a young girl skipping her piano lessons, a world traveler with a singular goal and, in a poignant finale, a 92-year-old man telling a lovely story of loss and love.

For 90 minutes, with her stellar writing and performing, Hydock takes her audience to Pennsylvania, to Prague, to New York, to Lakeshore Drive in Homewood. Thanks to her vivid descriptions, with writing as strong as her performance, you feel as if you’re right there with her, every step of the way.

Hydock’s remaining performance at the library is sold out, but let this review serve notice that she’s back. There will be other chances to hear her tell her stories and, we hope, see her act in plays.

And you should take advantage of those chances. She’s a Birmingham treasure, and after a couple of years of forced retirement, she’s better than ever.

“Let’s Get Personal,” an evening of stories told by Dolores Hydock, at the Homewood Public Library through Friday night.