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Ah, Wilderness!

Ah, Wilderness! (1933), a comedy by Eugene O'Neill. [Guild Theatre, 289 perf.] In “a large small‐town in Connecticut,” almost the whole Miller family is preparing to celebrate July 4th, although to their teenage son, Richard (Elisha Cook Jr.), they are all slaves of the capitalistic system and the holiday is “a stupid farce.” If young Richard's misguided political enthusiasms merely amuse his tolerant father, Nat (George M. Cohan), another of his passions, reading, seriously concerns his mother, Essie (Marjorie Marquis). Politics, poetry, and prose are scarcely enough to claim all of Richard's youthful ardor. The real love of his life is Muriel McComber (Ruth Gilbert), to whom Richard has been sending letters filled with the same ardent poetry that angers Muriel's father (Richard Sterling). He demands that Richard no longer see his daughter, and if Richard disobeys he'll remove his advertisements from Nat's paper. In adolescent desperation Richard heads for a local bar, where he meets up with a “tart” and gets hopelessly drunk. Luckily his family is understanding and forgiving. Even Muriel would like to continue their romance, so Richard promises he will write and remain loyal when he leaves for Yale in the fall. George Jean Nathan, to whom O'Neill dedicated the play, proclaimed it “the tenderest and most amusing comedy of boyhood in the American Drama,” while Burns Mantle noted, “It goes back in the American theatre scene to such homely old hits as The Old Homestead and Shore Acres.” The Theatre Guild production of O'Neill's only comedy was also praised for Cohan's fine‐tuned performance. Ah, Wilderness! was given commendable Broadway revivals in 1975, 1988, and 1998, but none of them enjoyed a long run. The play is the source for the musical TAKE ME ALONG (1959) with a book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell, and lyrics and music by Bob Merrill. The fine cast included Walter Pidgeon (Nat), Robert Morse (Richard), Una Merkel (Essie), and Jackie Gleason as the boozy Uncle Sid. Although the adaptation was remarkably faithful and Merrill's score was both delicate and enjoyable, only the title song enjoyed much popularity. David Merrick produced the musical at the Shubert Theatre, and it ran for 448 performances.

 
 
Wikipedia: Ah, Wilderness!
Poster for WPA production of Ah, Wilderness!
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Poster for WPA production of Ah, Wilderness!

Ah, Wilderness! is a play by Eugene O'Neill, and has the distinction of being the only true comedy he would ever write. In contrast to O'Neill's other, often tragic works, the overall tone of Ah, Wilderness! is rather sentimental and nostalgic.

The play takes place around the Fourth of July, 1906, and focuses on the Miller family of Connecticut. The main plot deals with the middle son, 17-year-old Richard, and his coming of age.

The title derives from Quatrain XI of Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which is one of Richard's favorite poems.

Theatre

The play was first produced on Broadway on October 2, 1933 at the Guild Theatre by The Theatre Guild, where it ran for 289 performances. The cast included George M. Cohan (Nat), Elisha Cook Jr. (Richard), Marjorie Marquis (Essie), and Eugene Lockhart (Sid).

The play was revived four times.

The story was also made into the 1959 Broadway musical Take Me Along starring Jackie Gleason as the drunken Uncle Sid (Beery's role in the film), Walter Pidgeon as Nat and Robert Morse as Richard. The production ran for 448 performances. Gleason won the 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical.

Film

In 1935, the movie version of Ah, Wilderness filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts. It was directed by Clarence Brown, and starred Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Eric Linden, Cecilia Parker, and a young Mickey Rooney.

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American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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