Editing The Matchmaker (section)

==History==
[[File:Matchmaker Act2 by Reginald Gray.jpg|thumb|right|Theatre decor of ACT 2]]
The play has a long and colorful history. [[John Oxenford]]'s 1835 one-act [[farce]] ''A Day Well Spent'' had been extended into the full-length play  ''[[Einen Jux will er sich machen]]'' (''He'll Have Himself a Good Time'') by Austrian [[playwright]] [[Johann Nestroy]] in 1842. In 1938, Wilder adapted Nestroy's version into the Americanized comedy  ''[[The Merchant of Yonkers]]'', which attracted the attention of German [[Theatre director|director]] [[Max Reinhardt]], who mounted a [[Broadway (theatre)|Broadway]] production, which was a flop, running for only 39 performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-merchant-of-yonkers-12400|title=The Merchant of Yonkers – Broadway Play – Original – IBDB|website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref>

Fifteen years later, director [[Tyrone Guthrie]] expressed interest in a new production of the play, which Wilder extensively rewrote and rechristened ''The Matchmaker''. The most significant change 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.