Oscar Wilde News

With its new production of A Woman of No Importance, Walnut Street Theatre hit its stride in producing classic works with a creative twist. 

'DORIAN', a new Rock Musical, is to have its premiere at the Other Palace in March. The venue has announced its new season, and the musical, with music and lyrics by Joe Evans and book by Linnie Reedman will be showcasing on March 20th and 21st for three exclusive performances.

The October 1962 days in which the world appeared to be on the brink of nuclear war will be revisited in a world premiere adaptation of Robert F. Kennedy's THIRTEEN DAYS: A MEMOIR OF THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. Brian Pastor, the Chicago writer-director-actor who serves as Artistic Director of Promethean Theatre Ensemble and Executive Director of Sideshow Theatre Company, has adapted Kennedy's account of the administration of President John F. Kennedy to the discovery that the Soviet Union was installing missile sites in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S.. As with City Lit's acclaimed 2017 production of Archibald MacLeish's J.B., which Pastor also directed, the powerful men of THIRTEEN DAYS will be played by a diverse ensemble of women. All the characters in the book are white males; none of the actors onstage will be. THIRTEEN DAYS will open to the press on March 15 at 3 pm, following previews from March 6, and will play through April 19.

413 Repertory's 2019-2020 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team of their dinner theater production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Melissa Harkness will direct 413's production of Wilde's brilliantly witty and romantic classic. An Ideal Husband will run February 7 through February 29, 2020 at the Madeline Garden & Bistro in Pasadena, CA. Tickets start at $79.00 and are on sale now to the general public. All tickets include a full English high tea dinner.

Tectonic Theater Project will present MOMENTS IN PROGRESS, a reading of selections from new plays currently in development, on Monday, January 27 at 7:30pm co-presented by and performed at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave. Tectonic Theater Project company member and two-time Emmy Award winner Michael Emerson will host the evening, guiding audiences through Tectonic's current projects. Emerson has been a part of Tectonic since their first breakout hit, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and has since starred in the hit television shows Lost, Arrow, Person of Interest and more.

The Walnut Street Theatre's Mainstage production of Oscar Wilde's classic comedy A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE opened last night at the Walnut Street Theatre. Directed by Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard, A Woman of No Importance holds an unfiltered mirror up to the bourgeois life of Victorian England, while extolling the virtues of robust—and refreshing—American values.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the Company's 98th season, which opens on September 11, 2020 with an Opening Night Celebration featuring soprano Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Pene Pati in concert with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim. Opening Night festivities include San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera Ball, BRAVO! CLUB's annual Opening Night Gala and two new events: the Opera Supper in the Veterans Building's elegant Green Room and, for the entire audience, a celebratory, post-concert toast to the season.

Opera San José supporters gathered at the historic California Theatre tonight to welcome its new General Director Khori Dastoor and hear her unveil the company's new strategic vision and ground-breaking line-up for the 2020-21 season, including new productions, company premieres, artist debuts, and cultural collaborations in four mainstage productions a?" including one with Broadway roots, a company first. Last spring, the Opera San José Board of Directors announced the appointment of Dastoor as the company's third general director, to succeed retiring general director Larry Hancock. She assumed the position October 1, 2019, becoming one of only six women, and the only woman of color, leading a major opera company in the US (budget over $3 million). Since then she has been overseeing all aspects of artistic planning and business operations, and now announces her first season to be staged September 2020 through May 2021 at the beautifully restored California Theatre in downtown San Jose. Noting that Opera San José has been an integral part of the cultural fabric of the greater San Jose area for over thirty-five years, said Dastoor, a?oeOur current charge is to elevate the company as a vibrant artistic incubator in the heart of Silicon Valley,a?? announcing what she described as a season of renewal, growth, and, above all, impassioned music making and storytelling.

Celebrated Scottish actor and comedian Karen Dunbar has been announced as Lady Bracknell in the upcoming Perth Theatre production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

Swashbuckling sword fights and romance lie at the center of this thrilling take on Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers by Catherine Bush, produced by Orlando Shakes in partnership with UCF, runs from February 5 - March 22, 2020. This bold production will run in repertory with William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. Tickets (starting at $30) are available now by phone (407) 447-1700 ext. 1, online at orlandoshakes.org, or in person at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center (812 East Rollins Street).

From classic to contemporary, a remount to a World Premiere, Cygnet Theatre's 18th season is filled with emotional, physical and theatrical dexterity.

In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (A Trivial Comedy for Serious People)a?"Jack and Algy fabricate delicious double lives to escape the straitjacket of social norms and to find the lovers they desire.

As the days get longer and Spring hits Seattle in the first quarter of 2020, The Opera Center bustles with free and low-cost activities for all ages. The mainstage operas attract big crowds Eugene Onegin (1/11 a?' 1/25) and Charlie Parker's Yardbird (2/22 a?' 3/7) at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. But, adjacent to McCaw Hall, is Seattle's newest education, artistic and civic space known as The Opera Center. This state-of-the-art facility opened to the public on December 15, 2018 and is accessible to everyone.

Philadelphia has so much more than great cheesesteak and the Liberty Bell - it's also home to some amazing theater. For the third time this February, we're excited to partner with Theatre Philadelphia on Philly Theatre Week 2020, when you can score free, $15, and $30 tickets to some of the best shows in town Feb. 6-16.

Philadelphia has so much more than great cheese steak and the Liberty Bell a?" it's also home to some amazing theater. For the third time this February, we're excited to partner with Theatre Philadelphia on Philly Theatre Week 2020, when you can score free, $15, and $30 tickets to some of the best shows in town Feb. 6-16.

Casting has been confirmed for the English language World Premiere of La Cage aux Folles [The Play]. Jean Poiret's seminal classic spawned four blockbuster films and a Tony Award-winning musical. This new translation of the heartfelt farce by theatrical legend Simon Callow will star Michael Matus (Richard III a?" National Theatre and Headlong Theatre Tour, and King Lear a?" The Duke of York's Theatre) in the role of Georges and Paul Hunter (Founder of Told by an Idiot) as Albin. The cast is completed by Sarah Lam, Syrus Lowe, Peter Straker, Mark Cameron, Arthur Hughes, Simon Hepworth, Louise Bangay, Georgina Ambrey and William Nelson. It will be directed by Park Theatre's Artistic Director, Jez Bond, with a national press night on Wednesday 19th February at 7pm.

Walnut Street Theatre (WST) continues its 211th season with Oscar Wilde's classic comedy, A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE. Directed by Walnut Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard, the production begins previews on January 14, opens January 22, and continues through March 1 on the Walnut's Mainstage.

Lantern Theater Company continues its 2019/20 season with the Philadelphia premiere of The Vertical Hour, renowned British playwright David Hare's rich and intellectually gripping play about a family trying to come together and the secrets that may keep them apart. Lantern resident director Kathryn MacMillan directs a cast that includes Lantern veterans Geneviève Perrier, Joe Guzmán, and Marc LeVasseur with newcomers Sydney Banks and Ned Pryce. 

Odyssey Opera today announced the release of its fourth recording: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: The Importance of Being Earnest. Scored for a cast of eight singers, two pianos, and percussion, this witty, romantic three-act chamber opera brings Oscar Wilde's most famous play to life with music that pokes as much fun at the opera world as Wilde does at Victorian society. Conductor Gil Rose leads the Odyssey Opera Orchestra and some of today's top vocalists including tenors Neal Ferreira and Stefan Barner, and sopranos Jeni Houser, Rachele Schmiege and Claudia Waite.

The Turbine Theatre in Circus West Village, the first chapter in the regeneration of the iconic Battersea Power Station, announces an exciting and diverse Spring 2020 season, which includes the programming of a variety of new work and emerging talent from visiting companies, as well as the transfer of one of the Edinburgh Festival's 2019 hit shows, #HonestAmy.