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!”