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.