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The Merchant of Yonkers

April 13, 2024

The Merchant of Yonkers is a 1938 play by Thornton Wilder.

The Merchant of Yonkers
First edition 1939
Written byThornton Wilder
Date premieredDecember 28, 1938 (1938-12-28)
Place premieredGuild Theatre, New York City

History edit

The Merchant of Yonkers had its origins in a 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent, by the English dramatist John Oxenford. In 1842 A Day Well Spent was extended into a full-length play entitled He'll Have Himself a Good Time by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy. Wilder adapted Nestroy's 1842 version into an Americanized comedy entitled The Merchant of Yonkers, which revolves around Horace Vandergelder, a wealthy Yonkers, New York businessman in the market for a wife.

Productions edit

 
Percy Waram and Jane Cowl in the Broadway production of The Merchant of Yonkers (1938)

Produced by Herman Shumlin and directed by Max Reinhardt, The Merchant of Yonkers opened on Broadway December 28, 1938, at the Guild Theatre. Boris Aronson created the scenic design. The production ran through January 1939, for 39 performances, with the following among the cast:[1]

Rewrite edit

Main article: The Matchmaker

In 1954, at the request of Edinburgh Festival director Tyrone Guthrie, Wilder made what he later termed "minor revisions" to his original script and rechristened the piece The Matchmaker, under which title it was presented in Edinburgh, followed by a West End theatre production in London which opened at Theatre Royal Haymarket on November 4, 1954. An American production of the revised play opened on Broadway on December 5, 1955, with Ruth Gordon as Dolly and had a far more successful run of 486 performances, followed by a motion picture version starring Shirley Booth as Dolly. The Matchmaker later served as the basis for Jerry Herman's 1964 musical hit Hello, Dolly!, running for 2,844 performances.

References edit

  1. ^ "The Merchant of Yonkers – Broadway Play – Original – IBDB". www.ibdb.com.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Merchant of Yonkers.
  • Internet Broadway Database listing
  • Internet Broadway Database listing for The Matchmaker
  • thorntonwilder.com


 

This article on a play from the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

April 13, 2024
merchant, yonkers, 1938, play, thornton, wilder, first, edition, 1939written, bythornton, wilderdate, premiereddecember, 1938, 1938, place, premieredguild, theatre, york, city, contents, history, productions, rewrite, references, external, linkshistory, edit, . The Merchant of Yonkers is a 1938 play by Thornton Wilder The Merchant of YonkersFirst edition 1939Written byThornton WilderDate premieredDecember 28 1938 1938 12 28 Place premieredGuild Theatre New York City Contents 1 History 2 Productions 3 Rewrite 4 References 5 External linksHistory editThe Merchant of Yonkers had its origins in a 1835 one act farce A Day Well Spent by the English dramatist John Oxenford In 1842 A Day Well Spent was extended into a full length play entitled He ll Have Himself a Good Time by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy Wilder adapted Nestroy s 1842 version into an Americanized comedy entitled The Merchant of Yonkers which revolves around Horace Vandergelder a wealthy Yonkers New York businessman in the market for a wife Productions edit nbsp Percy Waram and Jane Cowl in the Broadway production of The Merchant of Yonkers 1938 Produced by Herman Shumlin and directed by Max Reinhardt The Merchant of Yonkers opened on Broadway December 28 1938 at the Guild Theatre Boris Aronson created the scenic design The production ran through January 1939 for 39 performances with the following among the cast 1 Percy Waram as Horace Vandergelder Jane Cowl as Dolly Gallagher Levi Tom Ewell as Cornelius Hackl Philip Coolidge as Joe Scanlon Bartlett Robinson as Ambrose Kemper Joseph Sweeney as Melchior Stack June Walker as Mrs Molloy Nydia Westman as Minnie FayRewrite editMain article The Matchmaker In 1954 at the request of Edinburgh Festival director Tyrone Guthrie Wilder made what he later termed minor revisions to his original script and rechristened the piece The Matchmaker under which title it was presented in Edinburgh followed by a West End theatre production in London which opened at Theatre Royal Haymarket on November 4 1954 An American production of the revised play opened on Broadway on December 5 1955 with Ruth Gordon as Dolly and had a far more successful run of 486 performances followed by a motion picture version starring Shirley Booth as Dolly The Matchmaker later served as the basis for Jerry Herman s 1964 musical hit Hello Dolly running for 2 844 performances References edit The Merchant of Yonkers Broadway Play Original IBDB www ibdb com External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Merchant of Yonkers Internet Broadway Database listing Internet Broadway Database listing for The Matchmaker thorntonwilder com nbsp This article on a play from the 1930s is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Merchant of Yonkers amp oldid 1175291228, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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