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Three Plays: Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Matchmaker (Perennial Classics) by Thornton Wilder List Price: $15.99 Price: $12.47 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. You Save: $3.52 (22%)

Three of the greatest plays in American literature collected in one volume

This important new omnibus edition features an illuminating foreword by playwright John Guare and an extensive afterword for each play drawing on unpublished letters and other unique documentary material prepared by Tappan Wilder.

Our Town—Wilder's timeless 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning look at love, death, and destiny is celebrated around the world and performed at least once each day in the United States.

The Skin of our Teeth—Wilder's 1942 romp about human follies and human endurance starring the Antrobus family of Excelsior, New Jersey. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1943.

The Matchmaker—Wilder's brilliant 1954 farce about money and love starring that irrepressible busybody Dolly Gallagher Levi. This play inspired the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!.

Customer Reviews:
Three plays by Thornton Wilder	Customer Rating: 2 out of 5
When I received this collection of plays by Thornton Wilder, I compared some of the text to an original acting script, and found that several changes had been made, apparently to make it more socially "correct". For example, in the introductory monolog to Our Town, the playwright's reference to the people living in Polish Town as "foreigners who come to work in the mill" had been completely deleted. I consider this an example of Bowdlerizing, and a big enough change in the text that it may be illegal. I was very disappointed.
Our Town - An Invitation to Open our Eyes	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Our Town is interesting 1939 play stage-managing the life of rural families in NH at turn of the century, focussing on a love affair, rueing that each one of us should spend more time appreciating the fullness and preciousness of the day-to-day world in which we live. Without scenery, the audience must employ its imagination more than usual and thus more fully participates in the production.
Three Masterpeices of Dramatic Art	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Thornton Wilder's reputation as a playwright rests upon three works: the 1938 drama OUR TOWN; the 1943 comedy THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH; and the 1955 THE MATCHMAKER, a farce re-written from a previously failed play titled THE MERCHANT OF YONKERS. The first two of these titles won Pulitzer Prizes; the final title would go on to become the basis for the musical comedy HELLO, DOLLY!, one of the most popular Broadway shows of the 20th Century. Although its "out of town" opening was nothing short of a debacle, OUR TOWN first charmed and then stunned audiences and critics alike when it reached New York--partly through Wilder's staging concepts (the play is performed on a bare stage and without scenery or hand props) but most particularly through Wilder's delicate story of an ordinary New Hampshire town in the earliest part of the 20th Century. In the first act we become acquainted with the Gibbs and Webb families; in the second act we learn how George Gibbs and Emily Webb come to fall in love and marry. It is charming, guiless stuff--until the third act brings us the town cemetery, where the dead contemplate the nature of life, death, and eternity. Written in the darkest days of World War II, THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH is a proto-absurdist comedy about an "everyman" family: Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, their son Henry, their daughter Gladys, and their sultry housemaid Sabina, who live in middleclass comfort in New Jersey. But it is also, most curiously, the middle of the ice age! As the play progresses, Wilder drags the Antrobus family from Noah's flood to the aftermath of an apocalyptic, global war--even as the actors break ranks, dispute the merits of the play, refuse to play scenes, and are sent rushing to the hospital with food poisoning. Can they finish the show? More to the point, can the human race survive? THE MATCHMAKER is, of course, the famous story of Dolly Gallegher Levi--a busybody who is determined to marry the wealthy Horace Vandergelder. But Horace is stuffy; who wants a husband like that? By putting her hand in here and there, Dolly contrives to unstuff the stuffy, bring the unhappy lovers together, create two new romances, and do well by herself and all those around her. Wilder was not fond of realistic theatre and all three plays are similar in that they are styled in a very theatrical manner. As noted, OUR TOWN is done without scenery; in a classic production you can see the back wall of the stage itself. THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH is also highly stylized, with bits of the stage flying away and then reappearing, and in all three titles characters suddenly turn to speak to the audience directly--and now and then even emerge from the audience itself. All of this was very cutting edge for its time, but what really sets Wilder apart is his talent for mixing a slight story with a depth of poetry and theme that rarely occurs on the stage. His plays bring forth great, fundamental questions. What is eternity? What is the future of mankind? What is the nature of happiness? What is life worth--and can it be lived to any point or purpose? His responses are eloquent and more often light than dark. Samuel French Inc., which holds the amateur performance rights to all these titles, notes that OUR TOWN is performed at least once a day in some part of the world. It is generally regarded as the single best known play of American theatre. Although seldom performed in America today, THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH remains a landmark drama--and is very popular indeed in Europe and most particularly in Germany. And THE MATCHMAKER, although often outshined by its cousin HELLO, DOLLY! remains a favorite as well. These three plays are presented with a preface by John Guare. Frankly, they would be better left to speak for themselves. Guare seems a great deal less interested in Wilder than in his friends, and most particularly so in Gertrude Stein. The result is a bite of over-written and over-heated academia at its least impressive. Considerably better are the end notes by Tappan Wilder, which describe the original productions and the wider impact of each. But with or without foreword and end notes, these are three masterpieces by a master artist working at the height of his powers. American classics, all three. GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Anyone searching for some good plays?	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Thorton Wilder is one of the best playrights of his generation. This book brings together three of his best plays. "Our Town" which is a play centered around one town, and the way life can change within it. "the Skin of Our Teeth", which centers around one family that is going through all the changes that have ever happened in the world, including the ice age, world war 2, the depression, and so on. And finally "the Matchmaker" which is not the best play, but is still worth reading. Thorton Wilder does an amazing job with character developments and sub-plots, and these three plays really show his genius.
Classics that are deserving of the term	Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Skin of Our Teeth and Our Town both were prize-winning plays. The Matchmaker became one of the most popular musicals of all time - Hello Dolly. Thornton Wilder's plays are in production at countless high schools across the country, and that's a pity - few students have the maturity or insight to bring these words strongly to life. Skin of Our Teeth, the story of the Antrobus family in stone age Atlantic City, NJ, deals with indomitable humanity, and how we can prevail against all odds, but especially against our own impulses. It also brings up the consolations of literature and of past times. Our Town is a simple little play about love and death, and how life is composed as a series of moments. It is so important to live in every, every, moment. The Matchmaker is about living life to the fullest, even in the midst of grief and aging. This makes these plays sound dreadfully simplistic, and full of high-school style morality. Thornton Wilder's writing is full of irony, wit, grace, kind humor, and style. His writing has a deceptive simplicity and rhythm. Read these plays to bring some beauty into your life.