The Matchmaker | Thornton Wilder Society Premiered: New York City, New York, August 12, 1955 Type: Full-length Play Wilder’s uproarious farce about love and money, stars the irrepressible busybody, Dolly Gallagher Levi, who inspired the Broadway musical, Hello, Dolly! Through Dolly’s subtle machinations, several unlikely couples come together to find happiness in 19th-century New York. Overview by Stephen Rojcewicz, MD Plot Summary The play, set in the 1880s, opens at the home of Horace Vandergelder (from the German das Geld, “money”), located above his successful hay, feed and provision store in Yonkers, New York. A widower, and immensely proud of being a half-millionaire, Horace is preparing for a trip to New York City. Having rejected the suit of an artist, Ambrose Kemper, who wants to marry his niece, Ermengarde, Horace has decided to send his niece away to frustrate any wedding plans. After Vandergelder leaves, Dolly Levi, a friend of his late wife, and utilized by Horace as a marriage-broker, enters.

Dolly is sympathetic to the niece’s romance, and agrees to help Ermengarde and Ambrose. When Vandergelder returns, he tells Mrs. Levi that he now plans to marry the New York milliner Irene Molloy. In a scene incorporated almost word-for-word from Molière’s The Miser (L’Avare), Dolly convinces him that she has found him a perfect wife (purely imaginary), with the result that he agrees to delay his marriage proposal to Mrs. Molloy. Cornelius Hackl, the chief store clerk, and Barnaby Tucker, another clerk, decide to take advantage of Vandergelder’s absence by themselves going for an adventure in New York. Act Two begins with Irene Molloy explaining to her assistant, Minnie Fay, that she will accept Horace’s proposal, although she does not love him, so that she can leave the hat business. Walking in the neighborhood, Cornelius and Barnaby suddenly see Horace and Dolly, and dash into the hat shop to hide. In a farcical scene, Horace discovers the presence of the hidden men, and, scandalized, tells Irene that he is ending their relationship. Cornelius falls in love with Irene.

Since Dolly has said that the clerk is really a wealthy socialite, Irene insists that Cornelius and Barnaby take her and Minnie to dinner at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant. In the Third Act, Horace arrives at the same restaurant, followed by Dolly with Horace’s niece, Ermengarde, and her boyfriend, Ambrose. Having noticed them, Horace arranges for a cab driver to intercept the young couple when they leave the restaurant and take them to the home of Flora, his relative. Irene, Minnie, Barnaby and Cornelius then enter, and are seated at a table next to Horace and Dolly, separated only by a screen. Irene orders expensive food and champagne, causing Cornelius to fret about paying the bill. Horace has accidentally dropped his wallet, which his servant finds and mistakenly gives to Cornelius. Although the clerk eventually tells Irene that he is not rich, Irene is supportive and tells him that they should just have a good time. Dolly tells Horace that his prospective bride has eloped with someone else. In a scene emphasizing eating and enjoyment, Dolly states that she herself would never marry Horace, thus planting the idea in his head.

Cornelius and Barnaby, having discovered Horace’s presence, try to escape by disguising themselves with women’s coats and veils. Horace, however, recognizes and fires them. Ermengarde enters and faints, and is carried out by Ambrose. Dolly summarizes Horace’s losses, and broaches more directly the subject of marriage. In the final act, all the characters arrive at the home of Flora van Huysen, Horace’s relative. Flora misidentifies the romantic couples, believing, for example, that Barnaby (dressed as a woman) is Horace’s niece, and that the real Ermengarde and Ambrose are somebody else, so that the farcical situation becomes even more chaotic. Eventually, true identities are revealed, and Flora persuades Horace to let his niece marry Ambrose. In a grand soliloquy, Dolly addresses her departed husband on her wish to rejoin the human race and to marry Horace in order spread his money around, creating happiness. Horace enters and proposes marriage to Dolly. Cornelius also decides to marry Irene.

The play concludes with Barnaby speaking to the audience about the importance of having enough adventure in one’s life. Critical Analysis From the very start of his work on The Merchant of Yonkers in early 1937, Thornton Wilder wrote that he was indebted to other plays, specifically a comedy by Johann Nestroy, Einen Jux will er sich Machen (Vienna, 1842), which was in turn based upon an English original, A Day Well Spent (London, 1835) by John Oxenford. Oxenford’s comedy is a one-act light farce about clerks taking a surreptitious holiday. The Austrian Nestroy’s play expands Oxenford’s basic plot, adding music, songs and social commentary. Wilder made major changes to his sources,1 however, especially the introduction of Dolly Gallagher Levi, the matchmaker. After initial frustrations with the Fourth Act, Wilder experienced a breakthrough in March 1938, writing to his mother and his sister, “All my plots – count ’em – and idea-themes all come to a head at the right moment, with Mrs.

Levi ruling the Roost.”2 The Merchant of Yonkers opened on Broadway in December 1938, while Our Town was still playing, with mostly disastrous reviews, and closed after only 39 performances, although it continued to be staged in other settings. Almost twenty years later, following encouragement and specific recommendations by the actress Ruth Gordon and by director Tyrone Guthrie, Wilder transformed the play into The Matchmaker. The major changes are the new title, which emphasizes the role of Dolly Levi, and the addition of lines, especially a grand soliloquy, given to Dolly. The Matchmaker debuted in Edinburgh, Scotland on November 4, 1954, and was already an international success when it opened on Broadway on August 12, 1955. In 1964 Hello, Dolly!, a musical adaptation of The Matchmaker starring Carol Channing in the title role, premiered on Broadway, and ran for seven years. A film starring Barbra Streisand was released in 1969.

Through his studies, his teaching, and even his early acting experience at Oberlin College, Wilder was acquainted with Greek and Roman comedy, including the figure of the Parasite, the parasitus, someone who tries to sit next (para) to a host for a dinner (sitos). In his classical sources, the Parasite was a figure of ridicule, a schemer, a threatener or bringer of lawsuits, sometimes a marriage broker, always trying to get money in any way he can, and especially striving to obtain invitations to dinner. Dolly resembles the ancient parasite as featured in Wilder’s classical sources: the Greek Menander (circa 344 – 292 BCE); and the Latin plays of the Italian provincial Plautus (Aulularia, and Pot of Gold, 205-184 BCE) and of the North African Terence (Phormio, 161 BCE). Many of the stock personages in Phormio directly correspond to characters in The Merchant of Yonkers3: the rich old man, the young men looking for brides, and the parasitus, who finds her incarnation, or rather apotheosis, in Dolly Levi.

Wilder’s adaptation of his sources, and his revisions throughout the various incarnations of the play, display a common theme. He transforms despised characters, genres, and materials into life-giving forces. Wilder makes the figure of the ridiculed parasite into the individual who calls the others into a fuller life; Dolly is thus Wilder’s alter ego. The playwright transmutes the supposedly unsophisticated genre of low farce into the life-giving spirit of carnival,4 which, as Julia Kristeva has noted,5 is marked by structural dyads such as high/low, food/excrement, laughter/tears, etc. The author integrates middlebrow entertainment into enduring literature. Wilder himself emphasized in a 1956 interview in German with Robert Jungk in Das Neue Form6 that it is the active collaboration of the audience that marks the eras of great literature. The conclusion of The Matchmaker, and of Hello, Dolly!, creates, with imaginative collaboration by the audience, the atmosphere of carnival and wisdom for the audience to take home.

Wilder upgrades the use of literary predecessors into a spirit of collaboration that recognizes the previous writers, the director, actors, actresses, and the audience as full collaborators in the work of art. The epitome of all these changes occurs through another alchemical process, the transformation of a lowly material, manure, into a source of enrichment. The outstanding modification in The Matchmaker, as demonstrated in the expansion of Dolly’s monologue near the end of Act Four, can be understood as the spread of manure. In the 1938 Merchant of Yonkers, Dolly addresses her dead husband, then speaks about the appropriate value of money, and her wish to rejoin the human race. In the 1954 The Matchmaker, she adds the detail of an oak leaf falling out of a Bible as provoking the insight that she had become as dry as the dead leaf, and must start to live again.

Near the very end of the new 1954 monologue, she continues, using a phrase modified from Francis Bacon’s 1625 essay, “Of Seditions and Troubles”7: “Money, I’ve always felt, money – pardon my expression – is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread about encouraging young things to grow.” A version of this line about manure does occur in the 1938 The Merchant of Yonkers, not as part of Dolly’s grand soliloquy, but in a conversation where the quotation has minor importance and is not inherent to the plot development. As the manure simile spreads more widely, in the progression from The Merchant of Yonkers to The Matchmaker, and even further in Hello, Dolly!, richness of character unfolds and meaning expands, exemplifying the life-giving spirit of great works of art. Footnotes 7Bacon, Francis. “Of Seditions and Troubles.” Bibliography Bacon, Francis. “Of Seditions and Troubles.” In Original work published 1625. Germer, Rudolf.

“Thornton Wilders Bühnenstück ‘The Matchmaker’ und seine literarischen Vorbilder” [“Thornton Wilder’s Stage Play, ‘The Matchmaker,’ and its Models”]. Jahrbuch für Amerikastudien 12 (1967): 137-146. Jungk, Robert. “Against the Tyrants of Imagination.” Das Neue Form (Darmstadt), 5 (9 February 1956): 147-148. Translated by Irmgard Wolfe. In Bryer, Jackson R., ed. Conversations with Thornton Wilder, Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 1992, 62-63. Konas, Gary. “A Walk on the Wilder Side with Dolly Levi,” in Martin Blank et al., eds. Thornton Wilder: New Essays. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 1999, 455-470. Kristeva, Julia. “Word, Dialogue and Novel.” Translated by Thomas Gora, Alice Jardine, and Leon S. Roudiez.

In Kristeva, Julia, The Kristeva Reader. Edited by Toril Moi. New York; Columbia University Press, 1986, 34-61. Work originally published 1966. Nestroy, Johann. Einen Jux will er sich machen: Posse mit Gesang in vier Aufzügen [He Will Go on a Spree: Farce with Singing, in Four Acts; the title has also been translated as A Rollicking Good Time], in Nestroy, Johann, Ausgewählte Werke [Selected Works], 363-454. Ed. by Hans Weigel. Wien: Mohn & Co, 1962. Originally published 1842. While an English translation has not been published, a literal French translation can be found in L’Homme Déchiré, suivi de Une Pinte de Bon Sang aux Dépens d’Autrui [The Man Torn Apart, followed by A Bloody Mess (literally, a Pint of Good Blood) at the Expense of Someone Else]. Rouen: Université de Rouen, 1985. Translated by Félix Kreissler.

Niven, Penelope. Thornton Wilder: A Life. New York: HarperCollins, 2012. Oxenford, John. A Day Well Spent: A Farce, in One Act. Cambridge, England: ProQuest LLC, 1997. First published, London: John Miller, 1836. First performance 1835. Wilder, Thornton. The Matchmaker, in Three Plays: Our Town; The Skin of Our Teeth; The Matchmaker, with a Preface. New York: Harper & Row, 1957. First produced 1954. Wilder, Thornton. The Merchant of Yonkers: A Farce in Four Acts. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1939. First produced 1938. Ziolkowski, John E. “Dolly Levi: A Modern Parasite? (Thornton Wilder and Terence).” International Journal of the Classical Tradition 5 (Spring, 1999): 549-560.

Further Commentary by Amy Boratko The Matchmaker, Its Versions and Its History At first glance, The Matchmaker might inspire a feeling of déjà-vu. The cantankerous curmudgeon, the naïve ingénue, the brass and buxom heroine, the bumbling servant, and the sly servant conjure up feelings of nostalgia for other theatre experiences of the past. Have you seen Dolly Levi before? What about Horace Vandergelder? Chances are that you have. And that is exactly what Thornton Wilder intended with The Matchmaker. By invoking theatrical gestures from ancient Rome, Moliére’s France, and nineteenth century Europe, Wilder creates, in this piece, a collage honoring the art he loved. The characters of The Matchmaker can trace their ancestral line all the way back to ancient Rome. Plautus’s Pot of Gold uses the stock character of the miser who hordes money, even to the detriment of his family. Euclio, the penny-pincher, finds a pot of gold to use for his daughter’s dowry, but he decides to hide the money for himself. His own stinginess and avarice lead to comic situations.

While Euclio is much more simple and exaggerated than Horace Vandergelder, the characters share a love for money and living economically. The use of Plautus puts Wilder in good company, as Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors is an adaptation of Plautus’s Menaechmi. Moliére took up the fragment of Plautus’s comedy and adapted it to create his The Miser (L’Avare). Wilder looks all the way back to this adaptation to find material for The Matchmaker. In The Miser, Harpagon (the miser) employs Frosine to find him a wife. Frosine describes the poor, innocent Marianne in a comically exaggerated fashion. Wilder uses this scene, sometimes nearly word-for-word, in The Matchmaker. When Dolly Levi describes the fictional Ernesta Simple to Vandergelder, she must reach back to Frosine’s words and tactics. Though it is an age-old scam, Vandergelder still takes the bait. More playwrights throughout years took up these same stock characters and plots and began to put their own individual twists on them.

Wilder, well versed in eighteenth and nineteenth century European drama, sought to write a modern, American version of Johann Nestroy’s 1842 Einen Jux will er sich machen (He wants to have a lark). This Austrian “king of comedy” wrote the farce, trying to perfect John Oxenford’s 1835 A Day Well Spent. A one-act, rapid-fire British farce, A Day Well Spent took the classic pairing of a curmudgeon and his young, marriageable charge and added an interesting subplot. Oxenford introduces the characters of Bolt and Mizzle: the miser’s employees who shirk work to have a big city adventure. Out of the Austrian and English plays grew Wilder’s 1938 The Merchant of Yonkers. German director and producer Max Reinhardt picked up the project. The collaboration was a dream-come-true for Wilder, who passionately followed Reinhardt’s work. Despite an all-star team assembled to work on the farce, The Merchant of Yonkers was a dismal failure in New York. The play ran for a scant 39 performances.

Fifteen years later, another distinguished director, Tyrone Guthrie, expressed interested in Wilder’s dramatic writing. He wanted to remount The Merchant of Yonkers, but Wilder still felt the stigma of failure attached to his “ugly duckling” play. Instead of abandoning the project, Wilder reworked the play and created The Matchmaker. The new product was not a complete overhaul, but a careful and thorough revision of the original text. Because the talented Ruth Gordon was cast as Dolly Levi, Wilder retooled and expanded the matchmaker’s role to fit the talent of his lead actress. The new collaboration was a success at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. And more praise followed a run at the Theatre Royal in London. The Matchmaker hoped to strike up a similar relationship on the American stage, but the Philadelphia premiere brought back haunting memories of the now-forgotten Merchant of Yonkers. The lukewarm reception was short-lived, and The Matchmaker found an audience in Boston and gained enough steam to propel it to a Broadway debut. The comedy opened in New York on August 12, 1955, and enjoyed a healthy run on Broadway. Translations of The Matchmaker flourished in Europe.

In West Germany, distinguished actresses yearned to have their chance to take star-turns as Dolly Levi. Through The Matchmaker, Wilder seemed to find the adaptation he started in 1937. This story still had a bit more life left-and a few more adaptations to go. Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman streamlined the number of characters, added songs and dance numbers, and created the Hello, Dolly! phenomenon. Carol Channing-very different from the petite Ruth Gordon-originated the title role in 1964. Winning ten Tony Awards, the musical matched-or even surpassed-the commercial success of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. It also spawned the film version (another adaptation) starring Barbara Streisand. The financial awards from Hello, Dolly! allowed the aging Wilder to live comfortably for the rest of his life. Unlike Nestroy or Oxenford, Wilder reaped the benefits of adapting and adaptations. Though more playwrights will continue to expand upon all of Wilder’s works and these characters and plots handed down throughout the centuries, each playwright’s adaptation is significant in the mark it makes on tradition.

Each playwright not only uses the source material for his own purposes, but he or she creates something entirely new and different. Almost all of Shakespeare’s works are adaptations, and, perhaps, Wilder was trying to be a Shakespeare of his day. A Note on Farce The Matchmaker belongs in a selective club of comedy: the farce. It’s filled with mistaken identities, secret rendezvous obscured by screens and hidden behind doors, separated lovers, exciting twists and turns, and a light, bantering tone à la Oscar Wilde. Unlike some of the more realistic stories on today’s sitcoms, the situations in a farce seem farfetched. In Clark Kent fashion, a single piece of clothing (a pair of glasses, a woman’s scarf around a man’s shoulders) disguises identity. But, in all this improbable zaniness, according to Wilder, the root of this type of comedy is not silliness; the farce is based on deeply imbedded logic and order. For Wilder, “the pleasures of farce, like those of a detective story, are those of development, pattern, and logic.” Though the farce looks like a wild, chaotic romp, Wilder built The Matchmaker on a firm, grounded foundation.

Despite appearances, Wilder has his farce under control. Hello, Again…and Again! A Wilder Adaptation Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart adapted The Matchmaker into the 1964 Broadway success Hello, Dolly! This transformation from play to musical is part of a long series of adaptations, spanning two centuries and two continents. Wilder, well versed in eighteenth and nineteenth century European drama, sought to write a modern, American version of Johann Nestroy’s 1842 Einen Jux will er sich machen “A Roaring Good Time.” This Austrian “king of comedy” wrote the farce, trying to perfect John Oxenford’s 1835 A Day Well Spent. A one-act, rapid-fire British farce, A Day Well Spent took the classic pairing of a curmudgeon and his young, marriageable charge and added an interesting subplot. Oxenford introduces the characters of Bolt and Mizzle, the miser’s employees who shirk work to have a big city adventure. Out of the Austrian and English plays grew Wilder’s 1938 The Merchant of Yonkers. German director and producer Max Reinhardt picked up the project.

The collaboration was a dream come true for Wilder, who passionately followed Reinhardt’s work. Despite an all-star team assembled to work on the farce, The Merchant of Yonkers was a dismal failure in New York. The play ran for a scant 39 performances. Fifteen years later, another distinguished director, Tyrone Guthrie, expressed interested in Wilder’s dramatic writing. He wanted to remount The Merchant of Yonkers, but Wilder still felt the stigma of failure attached to his “ugly duckling” play. Instead of abandoning the project, Wilder reworked the play and created The Matchmaker. The new product was not a complete overhaul, but a careful and thorough revision of the original text. Because the talented Ruth Gordon was cast as Dolly Levi, Wilder retooled and expanded the matchmaker’s role to fit the talent of his lead actress. The new collaboration was a success at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. And more praise followed a run at the Theatre Royal in London. The Matchmaker hoped to strike up a similar relationship on the American stage, but the Philadelphia premiere brought back haunting memories of the now-forgotten Merchant of Yonkers.

The lukewarm reception was short-lived, and The Matchmaker found an audience in Boston and gained enough steam to propel it to a Broadway debut. The comedy opened in New York on August 12, 1955, and enjoyed a healthy run on Broadway. Translations of The Matchmaker flourished in Europe. In West Germany, distinguished actresses yearned to have their chance to take star-turns as Dolly Levi. Through The Matchmaker, Wilder seemed to find the adaptation he started in 1937. This story still had a bit more life left— and a few more adaptations to go. Stewart and Herman streamlined the number of characters, added songs and dance numbers, and created the Hello, Dolly! phenomenon. Carol Channing—very different from the petite Ruth Gordon—originated the title role in 1964. Winning ten Tony Awards, the musical matched—or even surpassed—the commercial success of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. It also spawned the film version (another adaptation) starring Barbra Streisand. The financial rewards from Hello, Dolly! allowed the aging Wilder to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Unlike Nestroy or Oxenford, Wilder reaped the benefits of adapting and adaptations. Note These materials appear with the kind permission of Ford’s Theatre and are drawn from the program of their production of The Matchmaker. The commentary is by Amy Boratko, who served as dramatic historian for the production and who has added additional materials for this website presentation. We give our thanks to the staff at Ford’s and, in particular, to Ms. Boratko for her contribution. For further discussions of The Matchmaker, please visit the Bibliography . Ford's Theatre "Hello, Dolly!" Trailer - YouTube Ford's Theatre "Hello, Dolly!" Trailer Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 2, 2013 book by Michael Stewart music and lyrics by Jerry Herman based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder original production directed and choreographed by Gower Champion produced for the Broadway stage by David Merrick and Champion-Five Inc.

music direction by James Moore choreographed by Karma Camp directed by Eric Schaeffer March 15-May 18, 2013 In the Tony-winning musical farce Hello, Dolly!, the cantankerous half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder hires matchmaker Dolly Levi to find him a wife. Dolly soon hatches a plan to woo and win Vandergelder's hand herself, while simultaneously arranging romantic prospects for his niece, his clerks and two of Manhattan's most eligible shop girls. Jerry Herman's memorable score and charming lyrics place the irresistibly mischievous Dolly center stage, making the role one of the most celebrated and high-spirited in musical theatre. Video produced and edited by Alysse Bortolotto. Category Hello, Dolly! » Department of Theatre Department of Theatre Hello, Dolly! January 15 - 17th, 2016 HELLO, DOLLY! is based on Thornton Wilder’s 1955 play “The Matchmaker” and features Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman (Mame and La Cage aux Folles) and a Book by Michael Stewart (Bye Bye Birdie and 42nd Street).

Matchmaking was never so much fun as it is in this timeless tale of loves brought together by a unique and intuitive matchmaker. Long before the advent of eHarmony and match.com, there was Dolly Gallagher Levi! This magical piece of musical theatre is a series of comic romantic entanglements filled with memorable songs such as Put On Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By, and It Only Takes A Moment. Show stopping dance numbers like Dancing and The Waiter’s Gallop are combined with beautiful costumes to create a musical the whole family will enjoy! Location: The Matchmaker on iTunes by Theatre Teacher I thought this film was great. What the previous reviewer neglected to mention is that Hello Dolly, the musical and the movie, was actually based off of Thornton Wilder's play The Matchmaker. This film was a great adaptation of the original script, but if you are looking for a movie musical this is not the one for you. What a disappointment by Playmill_adict It maintains for the most part the Hello Dolly theme, but if you are looking for the real thing and the full experience go for the play of the movie "Hello Dolly''.

This movie lacks the music, the young and vibrant Dolly that I love in the movie Hello Dolly. Though if you have never seen the play this would be an okay introduction. Shirley Booth was Dolly Levi by segabear I saw this movie well before "Hello, Dolly!" became a reality (1958). Shirley Booth WAS the matronly widow who joins the human race again. She set the pace for all the other Dollys yet to come and there were quite a few. Supporting her were Shirley MacLaine, Tony Perkins, Robert Morse & Paul Ford; each ideally cast. Even though she was frumpy by the 50's standard, she was a great actress as shown in "Come Back Little Sheba" (Oscar winning role), "The Other Mrs. Green" and "Hazel" on TV. This movie is a real treat, even without the music. Forget "Hello, Dolly" and enjoy Thorton Wilder presented very close to his play.

"The Matchmaker" (1955) was a revision of "The Merchant of Yonkers" (1938) and played on Broadway with Ruth Gordon, later Shirley Booth for 486 performances. If you like subtle slapstick, this for you; it is very funny. Viewers Also Bought "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from Ford's Theatre's "Hello, Dolly!" - YouTube "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from Ford's Theatre's "Hello, Dolly!" Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Apr 19, 2013 book by Michael Stewart music and lyrics by Jerry Herman based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder original production directed and choreographed by Gower Champion produced for the Broadway stage by David Merrick and Champion-Five Inc. music direction by James Moore choreographed by Karma Camp "Dolly! still going strong in dynamic revival!" -The Washington Post "A family-friendly musical revival!" --The Washingtonian See more reviews.

In the Tony-winning musical farce Hello, Dolly!, the cantankerous half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder hires matchmaker Dolly Levi to find him a wife. Dolly soon hatches a plan to woo and win Vandergelder's hand herself, while simultaneously arranging romantic prospects for his niece, his clerks and two of Manhattan's most eligible shop girls. Category A Play Well Spent: The Matchmaker – The Emerald City Book Review Posted July 24, 2015 by Lory in reviews / 2 Comments Thornton Wilder, The Matchmaker (1954) Ruth Gordon, the original Dolly A while ago I made a project of reading all of Thornton Wilder’s novels , but I didn’t include the multifaceted author’s renowned plays. While two of his famous trio of dramas — Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth — were drummed into me back in high school, I’d never seen or read The Matchmaker, until now. It’s a play with quite a history, it turns out. I knew that it was the basis of the hit musical Hello Dolly!

(which I also have never seen), but I hadn’t known that it was itself built on at least three other layers of dramatic history. Wilder based it on his own earlier flop The Merchant of Yonkers, which was based on the Austrian farce Einen Jux will er sich Machen, based in turn on John Oxenford’s Victorian one-act A Day Well Spent. To complicate things further, Tom Stoppard used the same story for his own play On the Razzle. And all of these draw on even deeper antecedents, the stock comic characters of the miserly old man, the thwarted young lovers, the buffoonish servants, which have lived on stage since ancient times. History aside, what makes The Matchmaker retain its appeal for readers and audiences today? What is its particular draw? The factor that Wilder added to his originals, including his own earlier version, was the character of the matchmaker herself, Dolly Levi.

To the silly, slapstick comedy of two country bumpkins out on the town in defiance of their employer, she brings an element of benign generosity, as she truly wants everyone to find joy in life: “I want New York to be more like Vienna and less like a collection of nervous and tired ants.” And if she herself has set her sights on the wealthy merchant Horace Vandergelder (who thinks she’s arranging a marriage for him with a younger woman), we can be sure that he’ll find himself the happier for it. Dolly, too, has a source in ancient drama: the parasite, someone who is always trying to wangle dinner invitations and other perks from the wealthy (para=next to, sitos=dinner). But Wilder has transformed this figure of ridicule into a spirit of life, who calls us to free ourselves from bonds of convention and habit. It’s a wonderful role for an actress who, like Dolly, has reached the age of wisdom.

In reading the play, I could enjoy its snappy dialogue, with lines like Dolly’s “Money, I’ve always felt, money — pardon my expression — is like manure; it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread about encouraging young things to grow.” I could also appreciate its masterly construction around familiar comic situations (including suitors hiding in closets, mislaid moneybags, and mistaken identities). But I longed to see it in performance, to put flesh on what otherwise remains a mere skeleton on the page. I would love to have seen Ruth Gordon as Dolly — her publicity photos make her look elfish and enchanting. Barring that, we do have a film version that was made in 1958 with one of the original cast (Robert Morse as Barnaby). Shirley Booth in the film Alas, while the film lifts scenes and dialogues verbatim from the play, it changes its emphasis and characterization to emphasize Dolly’s parasitism and make her less attractive.

Whereas the play starts out with curmudgeonly Vandergelder and introduces Dolly, the transformative element, later, the film un-subtly adds an opening scene in which Dolly is trying on a wedding ring, announcing her intention to marry Vandergelder, and calling herself a matchmaker (which she never does in the play). The subplot about the young lovers is eliminated entirely, which also reduces her role as a facilitator of happiness and causes other scenes to be invented and changed around in an unconvincing way. The way the characters speak in monologues to the audience, a carryover from the play, highlights the difference between live theater and film. In the theater, such a device when used well increases the human connection between the actors and the audience, embracing them all within a common space. In a film, it marks and emphasizes the artificiality of the screen, giving a slight sense of embarrassment. It’s not a bad movie, but I didn’t feel it captured what was special about The Matchmaker. The magical circle created by live theater, when actors and audience are part of a unique creation in the moment, is simply not possible with film — and that’s exactly what Wilder was so sensitive to with his plays.

I’ll still be hoping to see this one on stage some day. Back to the Classics Challenge: Classic Play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder Published by Harper in 1957 in Three Plays (original production 1954) Matchmaker, The Matchmaker, The "Loud, slap dash and uproarious...extraordinarily original and funny." - The New York Times More Information Below: Various settings in Yonkers and New York City. FEATURES / CONTAINS Local Celebrity Cameo, Physical Comedy, Play w/ Music Unit Set/Multiple Settings Appropriate for all audiences PERFORMANCE GROUP High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Dinner Theatre, Professional Theatre, Reader's Theatre, Outdoor, Large Stage RECOGNITION / AWARDS From Broadway, From West End Horace Vandergelder, a wealthy merchant in 19th Century Yonkers, NY, decides to take a wife and employs a matchmaker, Mrs. Dolly Levi. Dolly subsequently becomes involved with two of Vandergelder's clerks, several lovely ladies, and the headwaiter at an expensive restaurant where this swift farce runs headlong into hilarious complications.

After everyone gets straightened out romantically, Vandergelder finds himself affianced to the astute Dolly Levi herself. REVIEWS "Loud, slap dash and uproarious ... extraordinarily original and funny." - The New York Times "Rolls along merrily and madly and the customers are convulsed." - New York Journal American "The lines of Wilder are so often brilliant, sage, and witty." - New York Daily News "One of the sweetest and smartest romantic farces ever written.” - Wallstreet Journal “What made Wilder so distinctive among [the] greats of the 20th century was his determination not only to reach out and move people…but rather to offer actual advice for living your life, which is, dear readers, all too brief.” - Chicago Tribune The Matchmaker opened on Broadway on December 5, 1955 starring Ruth Gordon (Best Actress, Tony Award Nominee), directed by Tyrone Guthrie (Best Director, Tony Award Winner). The Matchmaker ran for 486 performances, Wilder's Broadway record, and closed on February 2, 1957. It was later adapted as the muscial Hello, Dolly!.

Characters 9m, 7f CASTING ATTRIBUTES Ensemble cast, Reduced casting (Doubling Possible), Expandable casting, Local Celebrity Cameo, Room for Extras, Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle), Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Parts for Senior Actors HORACE VANDERGELDER, a Merchant of Yonkers MRS. DOLLY GALLAGHER LEVI, a Friend of Vandergelder's Late Wife IRENE MOLLOY, a Milliner MINNIE FAY, Mrs. Molloy's Assistant CORNELIUS HACKL, a Clerk in Vandergelder's Store BARNABY TUCKER, an Apprentice in Vandergelder's Store ERMENGARDE, Mr. Vandergelder's niece MISS FLORA VAN HUSEN, a Friend of Vandergelder's Late Wife MALACHI STACK Thornton Wilder Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at Yale and Princeton, was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works explore the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of his seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and his next-to-last novel, The Eighth Day received the National Book ... view full profile Other Thornton Wilder titles: Michelle O'Brien 8/22/2016 10:22 AM Meryl Federman 5/20/2013 4:27 PM "The Matchmaker," the straight-play basis for "Hello, Dolly!", is a light, hopeful examination of the American preoccupation with money and class. The play is just as much fun as the musical treatment, and the characters just as large. The farcical energy sweeps through every moment of the play, it is a classically perfect example of farce - with plenty of wonderful roles for both men and women as well. For anyone wondering if a precursor to "Hello, Dolly!" might be dated, put those fears to rest. The themes of class mobility and money are treated with heart and grace, with a moral that will resonate with any American today and likely far into the future - money must be used for good.

The moralizing is gentle and loving, allowing for financial success as a moral good, but only if one is thoughtful and caring of others, especially those close to them. Related Products

Question: Which musical is based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder?
Answer: HELLO DOLLY