The Matchmaker: A Farce in Four Acts

by Thornton Wilder

Overview

“Loud, slap dash and uproarious...extraordinarily original and funny."—New York Times

Now, for the first time in a standalone edition, Thornton Wilder's brilliant, hilarious play which was adapted into the hit Broadway musical Hello, Dolly with an afterword by Wilder's nephew, Tappan Wilder.

Horace Vandergelder, a wealthy old merchant residing in Yonkers has decided it’s time to take a wife and hires a matchmaker. But Dolly Gallagher Levi is no ordinary matchmaker. She’s a force of nature, with a plan of her own. Levi soon becomes involved in the affairs of the hearts of all those around her—including Vandergelder’s niece, his store clerks, assorted young and lovely ladies, and the headwaiter at an expensive restaurant, where this swift farce inevitably runs headlong into hilarious complications. Indeed, after a series of slapstick situations involving mistaken identities, a secret rendezvous behind carefully placed screens, separated lovers, and a trip to night court—everyone involved eventually finds themselves paired with a perfect match.

A delightful, deliciously funny classic by Thornton Wilder, The Matchmaker is astonishingly modern and is sure to resonate with audiences and readers today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062693495
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works, exploring the connection between the commonplace and cosmic dimensions of human experience, continue to be read and produced around the world. His Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, as did two of his four full-length dramas, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). Wilder's The Matchmaker was adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly! He also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them teaching, acting, the opera, and films. (His screenplay for Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt [1943] remains a classic psycho-thriller to this day.) Wilder's many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Committee's Medal for Literature.