American Players Theatre has a lot of fun with 'The Matchmaker'

Michael Popke, Isthmus

In the second act of the American Players Theatre’s production of Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, down-on-his-luck store clerk Cornelius Hackl proclaims, “Isn’t the world full of wonderful things.”

Over the course of four acts and nearly three hours, a hyper-talented cast proves that spending a summer evening watching one of the country’s finest theater companies perform under the stars and in the woods of rural Spring Green ranks among those wonderful things.

Set in New York circa 1896, The Matchmaker is one of Madison-born Wilder’s funniest, most farcical plays. Yet it’s also imbued with enough emotion and life-affirming delight to encourage audiences to embrace their own less glorious moments.

The Matchmaker’s history can be traced back to a one-act British play in 1835; Wilder Americanized an Austrian playwright’s version into The Merchant of Yonkers in 1938 and then ultimately reworked it into The Matchmaker, which debuted on Broadway in 1954.

APT’s version crackles from the get-go, as wealthy curmudgeon and Yonkers shop owner Horace Vandergelder (Triney Sandoval) attempts to sneak his niece, Ermengarde (Kelly Simmons), to an undisclosed location in the hopes of spoiling her plans to marry artist Ambrose Kemper (Jonathan Gardner). But Horace has wedding bells on his own mind, as the widower aims to propose later that day to Manhattan milliner Irene Molloy (Phoebe González). She doesn’t love him, but she also wants out of the hat business.

Enter “The Matchmaker”: Dolly Gallagher Levi, a professional meddler with a knack for rearranging other people’s lives. (She also eventually became the inspiration for the blockbuster 1964 Broadway musical, Hello, Dolly!). Played to perfection by Tracy Michelle Arnold — resplendent with red hair that appears to change shades as the sun goes down and that elegantly complements her character’s fanciful costumes — Dolly was friends with Horace’s late wife and now has her sights set on snagging him for herself. Dolly’s fibs to mislead Horace away from Irene eventually encompass the love interest trajectories of no fewer than seven characters, creating comic chaos and vibrant wit.

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