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Fall 2007 Production:
Z Center Stage will present the hilarious comedy
The Matchmaker
By Thornton Wilder
Production Dates: November 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 @ 7:00 pm in the PAC
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Dolly Levi is a professional matchmaker, or more like a professional busybody—who at the moment is busy arranging a bride for the half millionaire Horace Vandergelder. Just when he thinks he has life all put together, his niece runs away with an artist, his two clerks close the store and go for a spree in NYC, his intended is hiding men in her hat store, and his only date in years turns into a free-for-all as everyone turns up at the same restaurant! Through it all, the unperturbed Dolly continues her master plan…not only does Vandergelder meet his match, he ends up marrying her! The original play upon which the famous musical “Hello Dolly” was based, this classic farce is a treat for all ages---don’t miss it!
Tickets go on sale October 12. Seating will be divided into standard and premium seating areas, and all tickets will be numbered this year. That means that once you purchase a ticket, your seat is guaranteed. Tickets are sold for both areas on a first come, first served
basis, and there will be no refunds or exchanges on any tickets.
Standard seating will be $5.00 and premium seating $7.50 for all audience members. An order form for ticket purchases will be available by October 10th from cast and crew and on email.
So, if you want an evening of laughs and a good old fashioned comedy, come see The Matchmaker!
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The History of The Matchmaker |
Thornton Niven Wilder was born 101 years ago on April 17, 1897, an event commemorated last year by the U.S. Postal Service which honored Wilder as the first in its American authors series. Thornton Wilder’s legacy is relevant. He was the author of many famous plays based in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Our Town captures life in the small town of Grovers Corners with all its living and dying, and his The Skin of our Teeth embraces the entire history of the human race. Both plays raise major philosophical issues. Though it isn’t as introspective, the earthy farce of The Matchmaker and its philosophical message – to live life to its fullest — is just as significant. The title character of Dolly Levi is Wilder’s own invention and the play itself went through several transformations before it and its famous leading lady finally became what we know them to be today. Thornton Wilder originally brought Dolly to life in his 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers. That play was based on an 1842 comedy by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy, which itself traced its roots to an 1835 English play, "A Day Well Spent," neither of which had a Dolly in it. Wilder said he wrote the part specifically for his friend and favorite actress, Ruth Gordon. But Gordon wouldn't work with Wilder's choice of director, Max Reinhardt, and "The Merchant of Yonkers" flopped after 39 performances.
It took until the mid-1950s for Wilder to figure out what had really gone wrong: The spotlight hadn't been enough on Dolly. He revised his original comedy — and this time Gordon happily took the title role in The Matchmaker, which opened to raves in December, 1955, ran for 486 performances, and quickly turned into a 1956 movie starring Shirley Booth, Anthony Perkins and Shirley Maclaine.
All this convinced the producer David Merrick to see if Dolly could sing. Jerry Herman, a promising young songwriter, was given the chance to write music for the show Merrick had dubbed "Dolly: A Damned Exasperating Woman." The title seemed to refer more to the production itself. Nothing went right at first. Again the choice for a leading lady, Ethel Merman, turned the part down, even though Herman had crafted the songs with her one-of-a-kind voice in mind. And so the role went to Carol Channing, a comedienne with eyes like pinwheels and a vocal range deeper than most men. Her singing limitations didn't seem to matter. Channing was Dolly.
The title eventually changed, after jazz great Louis Armstrong made a recording of one of the songs while the show was being fine-tuned. It took just one twirl of Armstrong's record on the turntable to transform "A Damned Exasperating Woman" into "Hello, Dolly!" The song celebrates Dolly Levi's decision to stop mourning her late husband and return to the human race, something she can achieve by marrying Vandergelder and his money. As she says, "There comes a moment in everybody's life when he must decide whether he'll live among human beings or not — a fool among fools or a fool alone. As for me, I've decided to live among them."
The musical "Hello, Dolly!" opened in New York in January 1964 to whatever kind of critical acclaim goes beyond raves, and ran and ran and ran — 2,844 consecutive performances. The show captured 10 Tony Awards, made the careers of Jerry Herman and Carol Channing, and brought Wilder more riches than he'd ever dreamed of. In time, practically every great stage and screen diva would put her stamp on Dolly. Ethel Merman finally walked down those long stairs, as did Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, Yvonne de Carlo and Phyllis Diller, among others.. Barbra Streisand, who had lost her Tony as "Funny Girl" to Carol Channing's Dolly, brought it to the screen.
The movie flopped, but that didn't keep the old girl down. More than three decades after she first descended that glittering stairway, a septuagenarian Carol Channing was still chasing Vandergelder's bucks, and it's a pretty good bet that right now, while you are seeing our show, somewhere in some dinner theater, community playhouse or college auditorium, Dolly Levi is alive and well. As the song goes, "Dolly'll never go away again." So sit back, relax, and enjoy all the craziness that happens when a group of people goes in search of adventure, and finds it, a little love, and lots of happiness.
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