Forbidden love, mistaken identities and complicated stratagems can make for a great romantic comedy. Thornton Wilder’s play “The Matchmaker,” directed by Jack Watson, has all these elements and more.
“The Matchmaker” opened last Friday at the University’s Robinson Theatre and will hold performances Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 and Feb. 8 and 9.
The audience smiled from the first moments of the play and continued laughing all the way to the end.
Mrs. Dolly Levi, played by Jocelyn Fultz, is a businesswoman who has held just about every job imaginable. Her latest endeavor is trying to find a wife for a wealthy merchant from Yonkers, Mr. Horace Vandergelder. Her complicated matchmaking schemes lead all of the characters to find their own true love connections. But instead of finding a wife for Mr. Vandergelder, she falls for him herself.
The entire cast infuses the performance with high energy and sharp wit.
Fultz stands out from the cast with her whimsical facial expressions, and her Betty Rubble-esque giggle is enough to get anybody laughing. She does a wonderful job bringing the audience into the action of the play when she passes out her business cards.
Barnaby Tucker, played by Quinn Mattfeld, steals the show with his theatrical hijinks. Tucker, a timid 17-year-old boy whose voice has not yet hit puberty, is an employee of Mr. Vandergelder and the sidekick of his coworker Cornelius Hackl, played by Andrew Beck. Tucker finds himself forced into just about every nook and cranny of the set while accompanying Hackl on his quest for adventure.
Just when the audience thinks their cheeks can’t take any more laughter, Ms. Van Huysen, played by Katie Plein, sweeps across the stage in all her comical hauteur, sporting a farcical “deer in the headlights” look. Her first line, a dramatic “Ohhhh!” caused hysterical laughter from the audience.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable, lighthearted play.
Tickets are $12 for the general public and $5 for students. Tickets are available at the UO Ticket Office at 346-4363.
E-mail reporter Jen West at [email protected].