If the economy has you down, then a friendly farce might be just the ticket to cheer you up. This weekend, The Matchmaker opens at Live Arts and it promises to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience. (Listen to podcast here) The Matchmaker was written by Thornton Wilder, the master of small-town America. He is usually more well known for his two Pulitzer Prize-winning plays of Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. He also won a Pulitzer for his novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Conversely, The Matchmaker is not as well known to audiences as its musical adaptation, Hello Dolly! When writing The Matchmaker, Wilder was revisiting a past failure, his play The Merchant of Yonkers. The Merchant of Yonkers premiered in 1938 and had a brief run. Wilder revisited the script several years later and expanded the role of a certain character, Dolly Gallagher Levi. The Matchmaker went on to become a Broadway hit.
The Matchmaker follows the adventures of Dolly Gallagher Levi in assisting Horace Vandergelder to find a suitable wife for himself and also help Ermengarde, his niece, in marrying Ambrose, the love of her life. Vandergelder is convinced that Ambrose will not be able to provide for his niece (Ambrose is an artist of the Hudson River School) and refuses to give his permission to their union. Additional characters in love conundrums are Vandergelder’s two servants, Barnaby and Cornelius, as well as Mrs. Irene Molloy and her employee, Miss Minnie Fay. Thrown in are cross-dressing servants to escape their employer’s notice, characters hiding underneath tables and in closets, dancing, and the clever working of Dolly to bring everyone together to happiness in the end. Wilder combines the mechanisms of French farce, commedia dell’arte, and historical truths about the Yonkers community in the late 19th century to create a world of surprise and romance.
The Live Arts cast is Chris Baumer, Sean Chandler, Ray Doss, Michael Durland, Sara Eshleman, Don Gaylord, Ronda Hewitt, Chris Patrick, Doris Safie, Geri Schirmer, Denise Stewart, Josephine Stewart, and Casey Wagner. It is directed by Mendy St. Ours and sponsored by Elizabeth and Joe LeVaca and Allison Partners, with a media sponsor of Piraeus Pictures. For tickets or more information, contact the Live Arts box office at 977-4177. The play opens March 6 and runs through March 28.
Related posts:
- The Matchmaker: Extended Run until April 4
- Live Arts Announces Their 2009-2010 Season
- Live Arts Presents: Tartuffe by Molière
I eventually liked this play, but it took me a while to get into it. The beginning seemed very boring. I think this was more the script than the acting. But I have to say the guy playing Ambrose was pretty stiff and expressionless. He was featured heavily in the start, and I think that’s pushed it into boring for me. But then the 2 workers appeared (the chief clerk and the boy) and they were so good that I forgot that I was bored for the first 10 or 15 minutes. They were very funny and lively. Luckily, they became kinda the center of everything after they show up.
Not to make the dude playing Ambrose feel bad or anything. I think the script might have too many long speeches in the beginning because I remember being bored by Dolly Levi in the first part too, but I didn’t think she was stiff. And maybe it was the costumes she wore, but the way she held and moved her arms was very funny. I don’t know if that was intentional or not. She was overall very cute, but in a confident spitfire kinda way. Although she seemed much younger than the role she was supposed to be playing. I dunno – I guess Barbra Streisand was young too, but the context makes it seem like Dolly should be 50 or something.
The standout is the dude playing the rich guy. OMG he even looks like Walter Matthau. And the lady with the big boobs and the accent at the end was also funny.
Carnavale – thanks for your thoughtful review! Any others out there?
The beginning didn’t feel long to me, but I also knew the script very well. I remember when I first read the script, I thought it was quite long. I was amazed (in a good way) that they kept the show to 2.5 hours with an intermission and thought that if it was any longer, it definitely would have dragged on.
Any others out there?
Not enough puppets.
@3 you certainly seem to love puppets!