DOLLY GALLAGHER LEVI:
Matchmaking for Nearly Two Centuries
BY JAKE STIGERS
Dolly Levi’s meddling, matchmaking story
in Hello, Dolly! has origins so old they
predate the Victorian Era by two years. The
1964 musical was inspired by the 1955
play The Matchmaker, which was, in turn,
inspired by the 1938 play The Merchant
of Yonkers. Both were written by Thornton
Wilder, who is perhaps best known for his
Pulitzer-prize winning play, Our Town.
But Dolly’s genealogy doesn’t stop there.
Wilder took his ideas from a play written
almost a century earlier—the 1842 mega-
titled Einen Jux will er sich machen (He
Will Go on a Spree or He'll Have Himself
a Good Time), which found Dolly’s original
inspiration in A Day Well Spent, an English
one-act written in 1835.
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Though the Dolly we know and love today
didn’t arrive fully formed at the dawn of this
literary journey, her universally relatable
joy, optimism, determination—and perhaps
her employment of a little manipulation in
the pursuit of love—have kept her in our
hearts for 55 years … and have given her
a Billboard-topping cast album, an Oscar-
winning movie, and now four Broadway
revivals along the way.
Hello, Dolly! was originally written for the
brassy Broadway beltress Ethel Merman,
who turned it down, but six years later took
over the role and played Dolly until the
show closed in 1970. Mary Martin—star
of South Pacific, Peter Pan and The Sound
of Music—also turned down Dolly and then
Hello, Dolly! | theatrecr.org