F. Murray Abraham, Players Club, and The Importance of Oscar Wilde to Appear on Thirteen

F. Murray Abraham will appear on Thirteen, Friday, February 18th at 12:30 AM. He will also appear on CUNY TV Saturday, February 26th at 8:30 PM, Sunday, February 27th at 12:30 PM and Monday, February 28th at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 7:30 PM.

The eminent actor discusses his role as Shylock in the Theatre for a New Audience's production of The Merchant of Venice, now playing at New York's Schimmel Center and soon to be touring the USA. He also talks about his evolution from being a teenage "hoodlum" in an El Paso street gang to becoming an Academy Award-winning actor, as well as a Professor of Theater at Brooklyn College. Youtube Preview

Encore: A Walk Through The Players Club will appear on CUNY TV: Saturday, February 19th at 8:30 PM, Sunday, February 20th at 12:30 PM and Monday, February 21st at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 7:30 PM.

One of the most elegant spots in New York City is The Players Club. This Gramercy Square mansion is the home of the exclusive organization which Edwin Booth, the greatest American actor of the 19th century, founded as a place where, in Booth's words, "actors could mingle with gentlemen."

Theater Talk's Michael Riedel is guided around the club by Howard Kissel, author of New York Theater Walks: Seven Historical Tours from Times Square to Greenwich Village and Beyond. The two show us some of the wonderful artifacts that are preserved there, including Booth's death bed and the Yorick skull from Booth's Broadway Hamlet (produced in 1866, just one year after his brother assassinated the president).

The Importance of Oscar Wilde, plus a Preview of Priscilla will appear on Thirteen, Friday, February 25th at 12:30 AM.  They will also appear on CUNY TV: Saturday, March 5th at 8:30 PM, Sunday, March 6th at 12:30 PM and Monday, March 7th at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 7:30 PM

Actress Dana Ivey and writer Paul Rudnick discuss the brilliant and once-notorious playwright Oscar Wilde and his classic work The Importance of Being Earnest. Ivey is now appearing in a hit revival of the Victorian comedy at The Roundabout Theatre.

Also scheduled, a report by our roving correspondents AndrewAndrew from a press preview of the lavish new Broadway musical, Priscilla Queen of The Desert.

Photo credit: Gerry Goodstein