Oscar Wilde News

Drayton Arms Theatre & PostScript Theatre present the World Premiere of Yesterday's Tomorrow, a serviceman's love at war by Gene David Kirk. The play is based on actual events and is directed by Hamish MacDougall with movement directed by Anna Morrissey.

Queer Classics re-imagines one of the most popular comedic plays ever written - Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest by presenting the four lovers in the story as dashing gay men. Director Casey Kringlen brings this sassy comedy to the Hollywood Fringe Festival for five performances only at the Let Live Theatre at The Actors Company beginning Saturday, June 7 at 8:30pm.

European Arts Company is set to tour to 43 venues in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with a new show about the libel and criminal trials of Oscar Wilde. The Trials of Oscar Wilde has been co-written with Merlin Holland who is Oscar Wilde's grandson and author of 'Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess: The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde'.

We were recently offered a grisly First Look at Broadway standout and SPIDER-MAN: Turn OFF THE DARK headliner Reeve Carney in his new role playing a classic literary character on Showtime's upcoming horror-themed series Penny Dreadful and a behind the scenes featurette revealing even more about the new horrorshow is now available to view.

Victory Gardens Theater continues its 2013-2014 season with Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew. Death and the Maiden runs June 13 - July 13, 2014, with the press performance on June 20, 2014, at Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. Tickets to Death and the Maiden go on sale to the public at noon on May 2, 2014.

The main characters in the new musical version of "A Room with a View" spend their time trying to figure out who they want to become. Unfortunately the show itself also has an identity crisis, as it could never figure out what kind of show it wanted to be. And that, combined with songs that rarely got off the ground and never moved the story along, left the show a muddled mess being sung by some powerhouse talents who deserve better.

Martin Witts and Lesley Ackland for London International Arts Ltd present the World Premiere of a new British musical, winner of Leicester Square Theatre's The New Musical Project, Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, featuring Music & Lyrics by Paul Dale Vickers. The show, starring Alastair Brookshaw, will be directed by Katie Pesskin with musical direction by Michael Riley. Scroll down for a first look at Brookshaw!

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for recent Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Appearing in titles roles are Resident Actor Jeffrey Bean as Vanya, Sharon Lockwood returning to the Alley as Sonia, Alley Artist Josie de Guzman returning as Masha, and Resident Actor Jay Sullivan as Spike. Rounding out the cast and making their Alley debuts are Rachael Holmes as Cassandra and Sarah Nealis as Nina. Jonathan Moscone, Artistic Director of California Shakespeare Theater, helms the production and returns after having directed the Alley's 2011 production of Amadeus.

Hart House Theatre, the University of Toronto's Performing Arts Leader Since 1919, is proud to announce its 2014/2015 season. This season's line-up is a diverse mix of classical and contemporary work as Hart House Theatre continues its tradition of producing affordable, accessible, high-quality productions for downtown Toronto audiences. The 2014/2015 season features a classic farce by a beloved and notorious playwright, one of Shakespeare's most enduring plays, the best rock opera ever created and a Canadian classic that calls for social change as it ignites our passions.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will continue its engagement at JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater on Sunday, May 18 at 9:30 PM with a celebration of the pop diva Janet Jackson. After a highly-successful season at 54 Below, The Meeting* has returned to its downtown roots this year with shows through May. The Meeting* has been called "delicious and delightfully droll" by The New York Post, and "hilarious and sardonic" by The Village Voice. A recent story for Slate.com called the evening "so deliciously icy that it left me shivering with fear and delight." The April show will feature special guests to be announced.

With the snow finally off the ground, birds returning home, and the beaches beckoning, it is once again summertime in Maine. With the major professional companies ending their seasons in late May, Maine's numerous summer theatres soon go into full swing with an exciting lineup of summer theatre. Here are some of the highlights of the 2014 season:

The letters of Oscar Wilde to his young lover Bosie are the source material of a new musical, De Profundis, opening at the Leicester Square Theatre this week. Writer Paul Dale Vickers was the winner of the theatre's inaugural New Musical Project, and as his prize gets a six-week run there.

Love, seduction, decadence and murder. DOMA Theatre Company partners with Requiem Media Productions, LLC to present the world premiere of a new musical based on Oscar Wilde's classic novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray.' Dorian's Descent, with book by Chris Raymond, Marco Gomez and Michael Gray, lyrics by Marco Gomez and Chris Raymond, and music by Chris Raymond, opens May 30 at the MET Theatre with Gomez directing, Raymond providing musical direction/orchestrations, and choreography by Cate Caplin.

Harvey Fierstein's first non-musical play on Broadway in 27 years gives a history lesson on cross-dressing straight men.

Lyric Opera of Chicago General Director Anthony Freud announced today that two major Broadway and TV performers – Jenn Gambatese and Edward Hibbert – have been cast in the new production and company premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's iconic The Sound of Music, to be presented at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, in Chicago, this spring.

Tanya Barfield's provocative drama The Call completes San Jose Repertory Theatre's 2014-2015 seven-show anniversary season in the sixth show slot (May 14 - June 7). This sensitive drama boldly tackles multi-racial adoption, identity and parenthood with razor sharp honesty and respect. When Annie and Peter decide to adopt a child they look toward Africa. But it isn't long before their anxiety over adoption and identity threaten their fantasies of parenthood in this powerful yet intimate look at the yearnings of motherhood, doubts and good intentions.

The first UK production in nearly 100 years of St John Ervine's timeless tragedy John Ferguson opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week run from Tuesday, 20 May 2014 - Saturday, 14 June 2014.

The Alumnae Theatre Company is proud to present our season finale Mainstage show of the 2013-2014 season: Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire. The current production is directed by Paul Hardy, who also directed Alumnae's critically acclaimed production of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance in the 2012-2013 season.

From April 24-27, 2014, Tectonic Theater Company will present The Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufman and Members of the Tectonic Theater Project and directed by Kelsey Guggenheim. Performance times are Thursday- Saturday at 7:30pm, Friday Mid-Day Matinee at 11am; and Sunday at 4:00pm. Performances will be held in the Harry Hope Theatre (Shafer Hall, ground floor, corner of High and Valley Streets, Willimantic).

Two world premiere children's musicals helmed by A-list Chicago theater artists - Leo Lionni's Frederick, directed by Stuart Carden, and Wonderland, Alice's Rock & Roll Adventure, co-created by Michael Mahler and Rachel Rockwell, were announced today as the opening and closing productions of Chicago Children's Theatre's 2014-15 season. Chicago Children's Theatre (CCT) will also celebrate its 10th birthday season by bringing back its 2008 smash hit The Selfish Giant by Blair Thomas and Michael Smith.