The matchmaker; a farce in four acts.著者Thornton Wilder

The Matchmaker (1954), is a comedy by Thornton Wilder.

Originally produced as The Merchant of Yonkers (1938), the play was based loosely on Johann Nestroy's 1842 farce Einen Jux Will Er Sich Machen, whose central figure was one of the clerks. Einen Jux will er sich machen it self was Nestroy's full and extended version of John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent. The 1938 version, which starred Jane Cowl, failed with mere 39 performances. In 1954, director Tyrone Guthrie expressed interest in a new production of the play, which Wilder extensively rewrote and rechristened The Matchmaker. Guthrie's madcap direction turned the revised farce into a major success for the Theatre Guild. Co-producer David Merrick had even better luck with the piece when he turned it into the musical Hello, Dolly! (1964)

The most significant change from the The Merchant of Yonkers was the expansion of a previously minor character named Dolly Gallagher Levi, who became the play's centerpiece. A widow who brokers marriages and other transactions in Yonkers, New York at the turn of the 20th Century, she sets her sights on local merchant Horace Vandergelder, who has hired her to find him a wife. After a series of slapstick situations involving mistaken identities, secret rendezvous behind carefully-placed screens, separated lovers, and a trip to night court, everyone finds themselves paired with a perfect match.

---

Plot
Dolly Levi (Ruth Gordon), who is supposedly helping the rich, smug, and pompous merchant Horace Vandergelder (Loring Smith) save his niece from an elopement with an artist, is also supposedly helping the widowed Vandergelder find a new wife. To this end she has a pair of candidates she is pushing. But what Dolly is pushing most is Dolly, for she is determined that she will wed Vandergelder. She arranges for all the figures—the lovers, the candidates, Vandergelder's clerks, and, of course, Vandergelder and herself - to come together at a New York night spot. By the end of the evening she has paired everyone off to her satisfaction - which means she has gotten Vandergelder.
 
---

Adaptation s Plays
The play was a success at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London's West End before finally opening on Broadway on December 5, 1955 at the Royale Theatre, later transferring to the Booth to complete its run of 486 performances. Ruth Gordon's performance in the title role earned her a Tony Award nomination as Best Actress; Guthrie won as Best Director.

The 1958 film version, adapted by John Michael Hayes and directed by Joseph Anthony, starred Shirley Booth, Anthony Perkins, Shirley MacLaine, Paul Ford, and Robert Morse.

In 1964, the play enjoyed yet another incarnation when David Merrick, who had produced the 1955 Broadway production, mounted a hugely successful, Tony Award-winning musical version entitled Hello, Dolly!, with a score by Jerry Herman and starring Carol Channing.

Another film version was released in 1969 starring Barbra Streisand in the lead role.

The 1981 Tom Stoppard farce On the Razzle also is based on the same story.