Oscar Wilde News

1959 was a heck of a good year for Broadway overtures.  The majestic trumpet fanfare and lowdown bump and grind of Gypsy's is generally regarded as the best in musical theatre, but there was also the rousingly rhythmic curtain-raiser to Fiorello! and, my personal favorite, Philip J. Lang's beautiful interpretation of Bob Merrill's music for Take Me Along, which touches on so many moods of the show while continually building the toe-tapping climax of The catchy title tune.

Mitchell Marcus and his Acting up Stage troupe have another winner with their breathtakingly simple staging of A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE at the Berkeley Street Theatre Upstaurs until March 22. Do not miss this one! * * * * * (OUT OF 5)

Village Theatre announces its 2008-2009 Mainstage Season, comprised of five shows that explore the perils of young love and the thrill of a great story.

Award-winning actor Chris Sullivan returns to the UK with his one man show A Bit of Irish, a theatrical evening of Irish celebration, which features poems, limericks, a multitude of stories and audience participation and opens for a limited week long season at Jermyn Street Theatre in London on St Patrick's Day, Monday 17 March, running to Saturday 22 March 2008.

The Company will begin and end their 45th season with world premiere plays

Celebrate the genius of Oscar Wilde, the boisterous streets of Dublin and the joys of creating live theatre through this heartfelt story…

The award-winning actor currently costars in 'Hunting and Gathering', the second of three plays he's in this season.

South Coast Repertory presents The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde and directed by Warner Shook running February 8 - March 9, 2008; officially opening February 15 at 8PM.

The West Coast premiere of the new play 33 Variations, opens La Jolla Playhouse's 2008/2009 season. Written and directed by renowned theatre artist Moisés Kaufman, the play illuminates the past and present using projections of Beethoven's original sheet music and a live on-stage concert pianist. 33 Variations will open April 8 in the Mandel Weiss Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse and continue through May 4, 2008.

La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director Christopher Ashley is pleased to announce his inaugural season at La Jolla Playhouse, which includes '33 Variations,' 'The Night Watcher,' 'The Third Story,' 'Tobacco Road' and 'Xanadu.'

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio proudly present an interview with designer turned director Tony Walton on their weekly theatrical interview show, 'Downstage Center,' on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28). To air January 4 at 6PM and January 5 at noon, January 6 at 7PM and January 9 at midnite

Red Bull Theater proudly announces the world premiere of Garland Wright's adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward the Second, with opening night set for Saturday December 15, at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, for a limited Off-Broadway engagement through January 13.

Greasy Joan kicks off their 12th Season with a haunting set of ghost stories; presenting the classic Halloween chills and thrills of Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde brought to (after)life by Greasy Joan actors, directed by Cecile D. Keenan on Friday October 26 at 7PM.

Moieses Kaufman's Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde will be presented at the Bristol Statehouse through October 28th.

The Bristol Statehouse is the stage for this stellar production of Gross Indecency. 107 years after his death, Oscar Wilde still fascinates.

Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS is proud to present renowned actor Corin Redgrave in Tynan, based on the diaries of the influential and often controversial English theatre critic and writer Kenneth Tynan, for one performance only on Monday, October 22 at 8 PM at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place). The performance will benefit Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS and The Actors' Fund.

The Village players offer a fine production of Terrence Rattigan's 1936 play. * * * 1/2 (OUT OF 5)

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards, the organization dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announce the 2007 Honorary Award Recipients on September 24.

Producers Greg Schaffert and Bud Martin hope to bring this swashbuckling new musical by George Stiles, Paul Leigh and Peter Raby to the Great White Way in the near future. Is the latest adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' classic tale of friendship, lust, heroism and intrigue, currently receiving its New England premiere at the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts, truly one for all?

The 2007-2008 season at 2nd Story Theatre includes a new piece by Moises Kaufman, a Tennessee Williams classic and a farce by Charles Busch.