| Ah, Wilderness! | |
|---|---|
 First edition 1933 | |
| Written by | Eugene O'Neill |
| Date premiered | October 2, 1933 |
| Place premiered | Guild Theatre New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Setting | The Miller family home in small town Connecticut, July 4, 1906 |
Ah, Wilderness! is acomedyplay by American playwrightEugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at theGuild Theatre on October 2, 1933. It differs from a typical O'Neill play in its happy ending for the central character, and depiction of a happy family in turn-of-the-century America. It is O'Neill's only well-known comedy.
The play was successful in its first Broadway production and the touring production that followed. It has since become a staple of community repertory.
The play takes place on theFourth of July 1906 and focuses on the Miller family, presumably ofNew London, Connecticut. The main plot deals with the middle son of a local newspaper publisher, 16-year-old Richard, and hiscoming of age inturn-of-the-century America. "Perhaps the most atypical of the author's works, the play presents a sentimental tale of youthful indiscretion in a turn-of-the-centuryNew England town."[1]
The title derives from Quatrain XII ofEdward Fitzgerald's translation of theRubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (5th edition, 1889), one of Richard's favorite poems:
When the play first toured,Will Rogers took the role of the warmhearted Nat, perhaps contributing to the critical and audience success of the play, a staple of community repertory since the original production.[1]
The play was included inBurns Mantle'sThe Best Plays of 1933–1934 with George M. Cohan in the cast[2] and again as a revival in 1941–42.[3]
In a review of a 1998 production of the play at The Huntington Theatre in Boston, the reviewer noted O'Neill, who "penned [it] in a single month in 1932, the Harvard educated playwright takes a well deserved vacation from this cold and unrelenting world, and gives us a surprisingly warm portrayal of middle-class family life in "large small-town America."" He further remarked about the play "The character Richard Miller was clearly modeled on O'Neill's image of himself as an aspiring poet, but unlike O'Neill, Richard's rebellion is quelled and his craving for romantic endeavors extinguished by a loving family who cares and wishes him the best."[4]
The play was made into a1935 film of the same title and again in 1948 as the musicalSummer Holiday.Mickey Rooney starred as Tommy in the former and Richard in the latter. The success of the first film ledMGM to reunite much of the cast in another film based on a small town coming of age play,A Family Affair, which became the basis for theAndy Hardy series.
The play was also adapted for radio onThe Campbell Playhouse in a one-hour version produced by and starringOrson Welles on September 17, 1939.[5] Additional one-hour radio adaptations were performed on theTheatre Guild on The Air on October 7, 1945,[6]Studio One on July 15, 1947,[7] and theFord Theater on November 2, 1947.[8]
On June 15, 1955, a televised adaptation was shown onFront Row Center on CBS.[9]
The story was also made into the 1959 Broadway musicalTake Me Along starringJackie Gleason as the drunken Uncle Sid (Beery's role in the film),Walter Pidgeon as Nat andRobert Morse as Richard. The production ran for 448 performances. Gleason won the 1960Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Arevival in 1984 had a successful run for six months inConnecticut andWashington, D.C., but closed on Broadway after only a short debut and a week of previews.
