Oscar Wilde News

Dorian Gray returns in 2009 Following the record breaking world premiere of Dorian Gray at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2008, Matthew Bourne's darkly seductive dance theatre event went on to play to sell-out houses at Sadler's Wells last summer. This mesmerising adaptation of Oscar Wilde's cautionary fable The Picture of Dorian Gray, will now tour to regional venues across the UK and play a further two week season at Sadler's Wells as well as International Festivals in Italy and Russia in 2009.

Our special series for Women's History Month continues with a profile of Irish Rep's artistic director and cofounder.

A two-part repertory production of Charles Dickens' epic 'The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby' will headline PlayMakers Repertory Company's 34th season, announced Thursday (March 5) by producing artistic director Joseph Haj. Also during its 2009-2010 mainstage season, PlayMakers will present Arthur Miller's wartime drama 'All My Sons,' the comedy classic 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde and the regional premiere of 'Opus' by Michael Hollinger.

Colin Hanks, starring in 33 VARIATIONS, will be featured on CW11's 'Morning News' tomorrow, Friday, March 20th between 8:00-8:30AM on channel 11. David Binder (A Raisin in the Sun) presents the Tectonic Theater Project's production of 33 VARIATIONS, starring Jane Fonda, Samantha Mathis, Colin Hanks, Zach Grenier, Don Amendolia, Susan Kellermann, Erik Steele and Diane Walsh, written and directed by Mois?s Kaufman.

Florida Studio Theatre Opens a new installment of Laughing Matters on March 24, 2009. Laughing Matters has consistently remained the biggest hit in the Goldstein Cabaret! Laughing Matters Too broke all Cabaret attendance records in 2007 and returns with great enthusiasm in 2009! Parodying both local and national current issues, audiences can not only relate but find an escape with laughter!

As playwright Matthew Lombardo continues to develop the upcoming Arena Stage production of Looped starring four-time Emmy Award-winning Valerie Harper (Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) as Tallulah Bankhead, a casting change has taken place. Jay Goede, known for his work on Broadway in Angels in America, A Year with Frog and Toad and Sex and Longing, will now play opposite Harper in the pre-Broadway staging, directed by Rob Ruggiero at Arena Stage at the Lincoln Theatre May 29 through June 28, 2009. Full release to follow at a later date.

Performance Network Theatre presents staged readings of new plays from local playwrights at the Fireside Festival of New Works. The Festival runs Sunday, March 15 through Wednesday, March 18 at 8 pm. Plays include: BLACKWATER BALLAD (lyrics and libretto by Joseph Zettelmaier, music by Brian Lillie), THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (Barton Bund and Walouisa Hubbard), THE TOYMAKER'S WAR (Jennifer Fawcet), THE STRAWBERRY & THE KAISER (Lizzi Wolf ) and JARVIS BECOMES POE (Jake Christianson). Admission for all shows is a pay-what-you-can donation.

The evening begins at 7 p.m. with a reception with wines and appetizers and silent auction, followed by a performance of A Wild Wilde Night, a compilation of treasures from Oscar Wilde's lesser known works created and directed by Ann Brebner, specifically for Porchlight Theatre Company.

The A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program and Young Conservatory present the world premiere production of Volleygirls, Rob Ackerman's funny and moving look at the spirit and passion of team sports, directed by W. D. Keith. Featuring actors from the graduating class of the A.C.T. M.F.A. Program and young actors from the Young Conservatory, Volleygirls spikes a spirited, heartfelt look at a down-and-out high school volleyball team. Following a string of losses and facing their biggest rival, the girls of Saint Agnes hatch a wild plan to turn their flailing team around-while their self-defeating coach must confront his 'loseritis.'

Simon Paisley Day has wowed critics in the latest hit production of the Joe Orton Classic ?Entertaining Mr Sloane?. Forty-five years it was first premiered in London and it seems alive today as it was back then. Once critic has classed it funnier than Oscar Wilde?s ?The Importance of Being Earnest?. Headed by Imelda Staunton, Simon Paisley Day backs her up as her rather limp and repressed brother Ed play by Simon. As we chatted between rehearsals he began to retrace the journey for him between the ?page to stage???

The UK Telegraph is revealing that even before Jane Fonda opened on Broadway last night in 33 Variations, several London producers had contacted her saying they wanted her to bring the show to the West End.

David Binder (A Raisin in the Sun) presents the Tectonic Theater Project's production of 33 VARIATIONS, starring Jane Fonda, Samantha Mathis, Colin Hanks, Zach Grenier, Don Amendolia, Susan Kellermann, Erik Steele and Diane Walsh. 33 VARIATIONS, written and directed by Mois?s Kaufman opened last night, Monday, March 9th at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway. BroadwayWorld's cameras joined the starry after party to celebrate the production and welcome Jane Fonda back to Broadway!

BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to celebrate the production and catch the starry crowd as they arrived to welcome Jane Fonda back to Broadway!

David Binder (A Raisin in the Sun) presents the Tectonic Theater Project's production of 33 VARIATIONS, starring Jane Fonda, Samantha Mathis, Colin Hanks, Zach Grenier, Don Amendolia, Susan Kellermann, Erik Steele and Diane Walsh. 33 VARIATIONS, written and directed by Moises Kaufman opened last night, Monday, March 9th at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway. BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to celebrate the production and welcome Jane Fonda back to Broadway! And speaking of 'Welcoming to Broadway', former 9 To 5 big screen co-stars Fonda and Dolly Parton had a backstage reunion after last nights opening. Parton will soon call Broadway 'home' as her musical adaptation of 9 To 5 hit the Great White Way at the Marriott Marquis Theatre.

33 VARIATIONS, written and directed by Moises Kaufman opened last night, Monday, March 9th at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway. BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to celebrate the production and welcome Jane Fonda back to Broadway!

The New York Times has reported that Anna Manahan, an actress renowned in Ireland who earned belated acclaim in the United States for her Tony-winning portrayal of monstrous mother in Martin McDonagh's play 'The Beauty Queen of Leenane,' died Sunday in Waterford, Ireland.

Jane Fonda heads a cast of eight in 33 VARIATIONS, a new American play written and directed by Mois?s Kaufman, about Katherine Brandt (Jane Fonda) trying to solve a centuries-old mystery about the world's greatest composer. Katherine's obsession takes her from present-day New York to 19th century Austria. As the music that consumes Katherine comes to life on stage, she races against time to find common ground with her daughter and to embrace the legacy of her own life.

Tom Stoppard's classic comic masterpiece, Travesties, previewing at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House from 9 March 2009 (opening 13 March), will reunite one of Australia's most versatile comic actors, Jonathan Biggins, with director Richard Cottrell, award-wining designer Michael Scott-Mitchell and Composer and Sound Designer, Paul Charlier: the creative team behind Sydney Theatre Company's 2007 hit, Ying Tong. Travesties is set during the first world war when James Joyce (Peter Houghton), Lenin (William Zappa) and the Dadaist Tristan Tzara (Toby Schmitz) were all, for various reasons, resident in Zurich. Stoppard imagines them coming together to mount an amateur production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. The uproarious action is presented from the indistinct memories but distinctive perspective of Biggins' minor British consulate official, Henry Carr, who places himself, to hilarious effect, at the centre of this convergence of some of the most acute minds of the twentieth century.

The New Group presents Eric Bogosian in DRACULA: The Vampire Play in Three Acts, Dramatized by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston adapted from Bram Stoker's classic novel, Dracula. The special reading will take place March 8th, 2009 at The Acorn @ Theatre Row 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) at 7pm.

The 2009 Festival of New American Musicals, a four-month musical theatre festival, will be held in April through July, 2009, throughout Southern California. Marcia Seligson, Bob Klein, and Linda Shusett are the Executive Producers of the second annual Festival.