Dolly’s challenge generates a lot of laughter, butWilder doesn’t soo<strong>the</strong> his audience with <strong>the</strong> stagebromides that so fatigued his spirit and intellect asa young <strong>the</strong>atregoer. The Matchmaker does notsay that money won’t buy happiness. Or that youcan live on love. The two younger couples in <strong>the</strong>play might think so, but Dolly knows better: “Yes,we’re all fools and we’re all in danger of destroying<strong>the</strong> world with our folly. But <strong>the</strong> surest way to keepus out of harm is to give us <strong>the</strong> four or five humanpleasures that are our right in <strong>the</strong> world – and thattakes a little money!”Dolly’s pleasure principle is a powerfulcounterweight to Horace’s dour life of Dutch-American industry and thrift. Her campaign toredeem Horace over a chicken dinner at <strong>the</strong>Harmonia Gardens – served with farcical stagebusiness, reverse psychology and <strong>the</strong> telling ofsome hard truths – is <strong>the</strong> emotional linchpin of <strong>the</strong>play and a high spot in American comedy. CanHorace be made to dance again? Can he move hisfeet to <strong>the</strong> tune of something larger than himself?Productions fail every season for mysteriousreasons, and The Merchant of Yonkers floppedloudly in its 1938 première. Was it Max Reinhardt’ssluggish direction, or <strong>the</strong> miscasting of Jane Cowlas Dolly, or general misperception on <strong>the</strong> part of<strong>the</strong> critics who weren’t expecting an old-fashionedfarce from <strong>the</strong> philosophical playwright who hadjust given <strong>the</strong> world Our Town?But, like Horace himself, <strong>the</strong> play got asecond chance. At <strong>the</strong> invitation of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Stratford</strong>Shakespeare <strong>Festival</strong>’s first Artistic Director,Tyrone Guthrie, Wilder came here in <strong>the</strong> early1950s and began re-working <strong>the</strong> play for RuthGordon. According to Christopher Plummer and<strong>the</strong> late Michael Langham, Guthrie sent Wilder towork in <strong>the</strong> prop shop when he was bored with<strong>the</strong> writing process. Re-titled The Matchmaker,it was a runaway hit at <strong>the</strong> Edinburgh <strong>Festival</strong>in 1954 under Guthrie’s quicksilver direction. Itquickly transferred first to <strong>the</strong> West End, <strong>the</strong>n toBroadway in December 1955, where it settledin for a long run before being adapted into <strong>the</strong>musical Hello, Dolly! in 1964.“Medan agan” reads one of <strong>the</strong> legends carvedon <strong>the</strong> Temple of Apollo at Delphi. It means“nothing in excess” and is one of <strong>the</strong> touchstonesof Greek civilization. The ancient authors decreedthat <strong>the</strong> function of comedy is to correct, throughpainstaking observation, <strong>the</strong> excesses of behaviourin <strong>the</strong> average man. Medan agan. Just enoughmoney. Just enough change. And just, as Barnabysays at play’s end, <strong>the</strong> right amount of adventure.That Dolly and Horace are able to come toge<strong>the</strong>ras partners is <strong>the</strong> happiest adventure in <strong>the</strong> play,whe<strong>the</strong>r it’s called The Merchant of Yonkers orThe Matchmaker.James Magruder is a novelist, translator, <strong>the</strong>atrescholar, professor and dramaturge.The StoryWealthy merchant Horace Vandergelder, of Yonkers, New York, has decided to send his niece,Ermengarde, to New York City in order to prevent her from marrying Ambrose Kemper, an artist.Meanwhile, Horace himself is seeking a wife, and to that end has engaged <strong>the</strong> services of <strong>matchmaker</strong>Dolly Gallagher Levi. When Dolly arranges a rendezvous for him at New York’s Harmonia Gardensrestaurant, Vandergelder’s two clerks, Barnaby and Cornelius, take advantage of his absence to go <strong>the</strong>big city <strong>the</strong>mselves in search of adventure. Needless to say, once all <strong>the</strong> parties are in New York, <strong>the</strong>irpaths cross in unexpected and hilarious ways.4