Hello, Dolly! is based on Thornton Wilder’s farce, The Merchant of Yonkers. The play premiered in 1938, and itself was based on an earlier English play, called A Day Well Spent, written by John Oxenford. Wilder later revised and retitled his play in 1955, calling it The Matchmaker. In doing so, he shifted the emphasis from the character of the merchant (Horace Vandergelder in the musical) to the role of Dolly Levi, the matchmaker.
When the musical opened on Broadway with Carol Channing in the leading role (it had been originally intended for Ethel Merman and then Mary Martin, but both turned
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Hello, Dolly! guide sections
