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.

Contents

Theatre

Film

External links

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 play ran for 448 performances. Gleason won the 1960 Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical.

Film

'''Ah, Wilderness''' was made into a 1935 movie directed by Clarence Brown, starring Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Eric Linden, Cecilia Parker, and a young Mickey Rooney.

External links

★ ''Ah, Wilderness!'' at Internet Broadway Database

★ ''Take Me Along'' at Internet Broadway Database

★ E-text of the play, in HTML-format.

★

★ Production archive [1]