“The Matchmaker” Is the Play That Became “Hello, Dolly!”

Mary Wisniewski, NewCity Stage

To enjoy a play like “The Matchmaker,” at American Players Theatre, you must adjust your expectations.

This is not serious fare. It’s not “King Lear,” or even “As You Like It,” the Shakespeare comedy now playing on another schedule at American Players Theatre’s outdoor Hill Theatre.

Written by Wisconsin native Thornton Wilder, “The Matchmaker” is a well-made farce, though old-fashioned and smelling a bit of mothballs. The heroine’s goal is to manipulate a crabby, wealthy man into marrying her.

However, if you suspend your modern sensibilities, and if you can remember that this is not “Hello, Dolly!” the musical, “The Matchmaker” is a fine time at the theater, with a talented cast, gorgeous Victorian costumes by Tracy Dorman, good slapstick comedy and a leading lady who radiates wit and joy.

Directed by Brian Cowing, the play stars American Players Theatre veteran Tracy Michelle Arnold as Dolly Gallagher Levi, a professional meddler who likes to arrange other people’s lives. A curmudgeonly Yonkers merchant, Horace Vandergelder (Triney Sandoval), has hired her to find him a wife in New York. Meanwhile, Horace is trying to stop his niece Ermengarde (Kelly Simmons) from eloping with an artist (Jonathan Gardner). “Ninety percent of the people in the world are fools,” Horace growls. “And the rest of us are in great danger of contagion.”

Also tied up in Dolly’s machinations are Horace’s two clerks, Cornelius (Colin Covert) and Barnaby (Trevyn Wong), who take advantage of their boss’ wife-hunting to have a holiday in the city. Here they meet a milliner, Mrs. Irene Malloy (Phoebe González), and her wide-eyed assistant Minnie (Ama J. Kuwonu).

It’s no surprise that many characters are paired up at the end. But the journey is fun, with people hiding behind screens, in closets and under tables.

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