Oscar Wilde News

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.

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'.

Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. Please join us for a career Conversations with Marisa Tomei moderated by Broadway World's Richard Ridge of 'Backstage with Richard Ridge!', on Thursday, April 24th (11:45 am to 1:00 pm).

Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will release a new live recording of the first-ever concert performances of Leonard Bernstein's complete score for the musical West Side Story featuring a stellar Broadway cast including Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, on June 10, 2014.

The fourth annual 'Night Of A Thousand Judys' - presented by The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - has announced that the initial talent lineup, which will include Jane Monheit (Grammy Award nominated jazz star), Sarah Dash (R&B/Disco legend of LaBelle), Rory O'Malley (Tony Award nominee, The Book of Mormon,) Julia Murney (Wicked, The Wild Party), Erin McKeown (folk-rock singer/songwriter) and Gabrielle Stravelli (Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra). Additional special guests will be announced soon. The Monday, June 16 Pride concert to benefit The Ali Forney Center will take place at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center (129 West 67th Street in Manhattan). Called 'a rambunctious, uproarious, unpredictable all-star concert' by The Wall Street Journal, 'Night Of A Thousand Judys' will honor the iconic Judy Garland with special skits, tributes and songs from her legendary career as movie star, recording artist and stage performer. This show will also help celebrate the landmark 75th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. There will be a pre-show VIP reception at 6:30 PM and the performance at 8:00 PM. The evening is written and hosted by Justin Sayre, and directed and choreographed by Jason Wise. For more information, visit www.aliforneycenter.org/judys.

The Gravity Partners presents The Picture (of Dorian Gray), a new play adapted from the Oscar Wilde classic by Neal Utterback with original music by Gabriel Gould. Neal Utterback will direct a cast of five, including Jessica Denison, Andrew Kilpatrick, Jamison Monella, Alyssa Newberg, and Phil Oberholzer. Six performances will be staged from May 15-23 at The Paradise Factory, 64 East 4th Street in NYC as part of the 6th Annual Planet Connection Festivity, which runs from May 14-June 8, 2014.

The Belgrade Theatre is thrilled to announce that one of Britain's most instantly recognisable actors Robert Powell is to star as Hercule Poirot in a major new revival production of Black Coffee from Tuesday 6 - Sat 10 May.

A Noise Within, led by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, announces its 23rd season of classic theater in Southern California. Informed by the climate of social and economic upheaval in which we live, the season's theme-reflected in a kaleidoscopic palette of plays-is REVOLUTION.

Fresh from its third place place finish in the 2014 Thesis Theatre Festival, Somdomite: The Loves of Oscar Wilde, a play by Joshua R. Pangborn, is receiving its first NYC revival as part of the Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Spring New Works Festival.

Since its World Premiere performance on February 14, 1895, Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST has been an enduring favorite of audiences. Critics recognized the play for its wit and popularity with audiences. In 2014, those same attributes hold up well. Currently, Houston's Classical Theatre Company is producing THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and earning many hearty laughs with their take on the classic.

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.

Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director David Staller, presents Oscar Wilde's short mystery, The Portrait of Mr. W. H., on Monday, April 14 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St.). Adapted and directed by David Staller, The Portrait of Mr. W. H. features Tony nominee Daniel Davis (Sir George Erskine), Wesley Taylor (Mr. Cyril Graham), Josh Grisetti (Basil), and Bill Kux (Shakespeare). The evening will also feature a musical interlude by Tony winner George S. Irving. Stepping away from Shaw for the first time, Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW presents an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's notorious short story that offers a theory about whom Shakespeare might truly have written his infamous Sonnets about. In Wilde's hands, the inspiration for the world's most famous poems is a beautiful young actor in Shakespeare's company. In attempting to prove this theory, a pair of men face their most secret fears and even death. Shaw and Wilde were friends, often inspiring each other with their work. In Wilde's most turbulent year, 1895 -the year of both The Importance of Being Ernest and his subsequent trial, Shaw helped finance Wilde's legal defense, and later was one of the only journalists determined to keep Wilde's name as a major artist in the press. Project Shaw events for 2014 include Heartbreak House (May 12), Getting Married (June 23), A 'Super Shaw' Evening (July 28), Village Wooing (September 29), An Ibsen Evening (October 27), The Millionairess (November 24) Major Barbara (December 22).

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, April 20 at 7:00 PM with a celebration of the lauded actor, writer and director John Cameron Mitchell just in time for the Broadway debut of his celebrated musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. 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 Justin Vivian Bond (Tony Award nominated entertainer), Angela DiCarlo (Mad World of Miss Hathaway), Scott Matthew (Shortbus), Marty Thomas (Xanadu), Sven Ratzke (Hedwig in Berlin), Paul Dawson & PJ DeBoy (Shortbus), Shane Shane (La MaMa) and Derek Smith (Dixon Place). Tracy Stark serves as Music Director.

David Suchet will star as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's much loved and exhilarating masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest. Directed by Adrian Noble, the new production will open in the West End on 1 July 2015, with previews from 24 June 2015.

Fresh from its third place place finish in the 2014 Thesis Theatre Festival, Somdomite: The Loves of Oscar Wilde, a play by Joshua R. Pangborn, is receiving its first NYC revival as part of the Manhattan Repertory Theatre's Spring New Works Festival.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will make its premiere performance at THE BOOTLEG THEATER tonight, April 11 at 8:00 PM in conjunction with the Tingel Tangel Club.

The Alumnae Theatre Company presents its 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.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will make its premiere performance at THE BOOTLEG THEATER on Friday, April 11 at 8:00 PM in conjunction with the Tingel Tangel Club. After extended runs at 54 Below and Joe's Pub in New York, the show will make its Los Angeles debut with this show. 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 show will feature Frank DeCaro as special guest along with the previously-announced Jeff Hiller and Ryan O'Connor.

The Boy Sonata, a solo storytelling work in 5 parts, written and performed by Justin Sayre will be debut the Wild Project (195 East 3rd Street) on April 24th and 25th at 8pm.

CTC will present the last installment of their season of English language masterpieces by way of The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde's final, and most masterful, play, The Importance of Being Earnest deals with a common theme in Wilde's work: the leading of double lives. Socialite Jack Worthing and dilettante friend Algernon Moncrieff create fictitious alter egos for themselves in order to buck society's stifling restrictions placed upon them. Hilarity ensues when their love interests, Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew, fall in love with their false personas. Full of witty repartee and scathing social commentary, The Importance of Being Earnest, will bring down the house with laughter.