COEUR d'ALENE - While many people know and love Jerry Herman's Tony Award-winning musical "Hello, Dolly!" that starred Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau, the story is actually based on Thornton Wilder's lesser-known play, "The Matchmaker."

Troupe de Wolfe Productions is presenting The Matchmaker at Lake City High School this weekend and next.

"It became famous when it turned into 'Hello, Dolly,'" said Sandy Seaton, LCHS drama teacher.

Junior Katharine Cheevers plays the lead of Dolly Levi, while senior Patric Schwaab plays Horace Vandergelder.

Set at the turn of the century, the farce features the exuberant Dolly Levi as a matchmaker attempting to help bad-tempered "half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder find a new wife.

However, Horace does not know that the woman she intends for him to marry is, in fact, herself. To top it off, Dolly is also helping Horace's niece to elope with a man of whom he does not approve, meddling in the lives of Horace's stock boys and turning heads wherever she goes. Antics abound as Dolly pairs unlikely couples while trying to secure her own match.

Schwaab said when he first took on the role of Horace Vandergelder, he thought he was the "stereotypical, money-grubbing old uncle."

But in playing the character, he discovered a "layer of depth to him that I would have never noticed."

Vandergelder is a tough guy to explain, Schwaab said, but he goes through a transformation as the play progresses.

"I love to go through that transformation. I love to start act one as one person and end the last act as a new person," he said.

Cheevers likes the role of Dolly.

"I feel like I know a lot of women who are very much like her so it was very fun to play her," she said.

Dolly is "very witty, conniving and controlling," Cheevers said, "but in a nice way.

"She wants people to be happy."

Seaton said "The Matchmaker" is a fun script, telling a story people are familiar with, especially if they love "Hello, Dolly!"

It is not a musical, so don't arrive expecting Cheevers and Schwaab to break into song.

"This is actually a little more of the story that 'Hello Dolly' tells," Seaton said.

The cast of "The Matchmaker" includes: Katharine Cheevers plays Dolly Levi; Patric Schwaab as Horace Vandergelder; Tyler Brostrum plays Joe Scanlon; Kathleen Cox as Cook; Amber Ferguson as August; Piper Glover as Flora Van Huysen; Jeremiah Gookin as Cornelius Hackl; Catlin Harris as Gertrude; Emily Irvin as Irene Malloy; Ellie Mularski as Ermengarde; Cameron Robinett as Malachi Stack; Gabe Single-Schwall as Cabman; Kelly Stagner as Minnie Fay; Avery Strobel as Barnaby Tucker; Easton Townsend as Ambrose Kemper; Mitch Williams as Rudolph and Cecilia Cruz as Gypsy.

If you go

Troupe de Wolfe Productions presents Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” at Lake City High School tonight, Saturday, and Thursday, April 19, Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21.

Tickets: $6 general admission, $5 senior citizens/children and $4 student with a LCHS ASB. Tickets are available at Lake City High School from Karen in the main office. Information: Sandy Seaton, 769-0769 or sseaton@cdaschools.org