At the close of Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,” Barnaby (Garrett Neergaard) is asked to explain the play’s morale. In a world where poor clerks spend money they don’t have, millionaires don’t spend money they do have, women dream, bums philosophize and love blooms in the strangest places, Barnaby declares, “It’s an adventure!”
No argument here, as Center Stage’s artistic director Irene Lewis brings Old New York alive in this tale of the original irrepressible redhead — matchmaker Dolly Levi (Caitlin O’Connell), also in Jerry Herman’s musical adaptation, “Hello, Dolly!”
Edward Gero is Horace Vandergelder, an American Scrooge who is the immovable object to Dolly’s irresistible force. But there’s a crack in Horace’s armor. Nearly 60, he’s contemplating marriage, a foolish act, but he believes that should he lose his head, he’d still have enough money to “buy it back.”
The rest of the cast serve nicely as pawns for scheming Dolly’s chess game, though Horace doesn’t realize he’s playing. Irene, Horace’s betrothed, might have been Dolly as a younger woman, bursting to escape her feather-hat-festooned prison (she’s a reluctant milliner). She finds her male counterpart in Cornelius Hackl (Michael Braun), a Bob Cratchit with gumption, who convinces his fellow clerk, Barnaby, to leave Yonkers for the bright lights of the Big Apple.
Adding spice to the mix is perennial Center Stage favorite, Laurence O’Dwyer as Malachi, stealing scenes with some of the play’s best lines. Toss in Ambrose (Lee Aaron Rosen) and Ermengarde (Zoe Wintesr) as a comedic Romeo and Juliet, and Flora, the aging, addled true-love believer, and you have a comedy worthy of the Bard.
Indeed, like a Shakespearean romp, soon “everybody is falling in love with everyone,” and by play’s end, all are properly paired and ready for marriage. Though one wonders how well Horace will endure a wife who embraces Reaganomics years before the Gipper came along, Dolly has her charms, as does this play, where love and practicality meet.
Kudos to scenic and costume designers Riccardo Hernandez and Candice Donnelly, who have created a feast for the eye — the set looks like a giant Rorschach test, and all about is brocade, buttons, boots and bouffants amidst the buffoonery.
IF YOU GO
The Matchmaker
Venue: Pearlstone Theater at Center Stage
700 N. Calvert St., Baltimore
When: Various times through Oct. 12
Tickets: $10-$60.
Info.: 410-332-0033; www.centerstage.org
