Metropolitan Playhouse Presents THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, 4/27-5/20

The Metropolitan Playhouse, a 2011 Obie Award winner, will present a revival of The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton and Clyde Fitch. The play now receives the first professional revival in its 1906 cutting since, directed by Alex Roe at Metropolitan's home: 220 E 4th Street.

Radiant, witty, and much-desired within the rarefied company she keeps, socialite Lily Bart is also without means. And at 29, Lily is reaching her expiration date. Her refusal to marry without love or to trade "friendship" for the favors of married admirers is at odds with her taste for pampered living. But her pride and willful flouting of convention provoke more resentment than admiration, and striving to rise above the competition of high status life only makes her the more vulnerable to its predators. An ironic portrait of the vanities of Society, a cool exposé of the battles for social dominance, and an achingly lonely portrait of a woman cast aside by the company she kept, The House of Mirth is a deeply affecting dissection of not only high society in America, but of the social contract we hardly dare acknowledge we make every day.

The House of Mirth on stage was the result of a cunning ruse: Charles Frohman, Clyde Fitch's producer, convinced Wharton that Fitch was yearning to adapt her novel; he convinced Fitch that Wharton was pining for him to adapt it. Each flattered by the recognition from the other, they agreed, and only deep into their collaboration did they realize what had transpired. The play's fortunes in Detroit tryouts and its brief Broadway run were mixed, and included many additions and excisions right through its New York life. Four extant scripts from that run live side by side at the library of the Performing Arts. The Mint theater revived the play in 1998, basing its production on Glenn Loney's informatively edited version (published in 1981) and interpolating new dialogue from the novel itself. Metropolitan returns to the final script produced in 1906 to find the elusive but poignant core of this a moving adaptation. Metropolitan presents the play as the fourth of four mainstage productions in our season devoted to exploring Class in America.

Between 1890 and 1909, Clyde Fitch wrote at least 62 plays-36 original scripts, 21 adaptations, and five dramatizations of novels. For most of his career, he was the reigning king of New York theater: On one occasion, he had four plays running on Broadway; on another occasion, he had five. In the days before income tax, his annual earnings were equivalent to $15 million today. As sensational as his plays were, with their opulent, realistic settings and reliance on well-worn plots and melodrama, were hot controversies involving the man, including plagiarism (false), obscenity (acquitted) and homosexuality (true). Two of his finest plays (both revived at Metropolitan) raised eyebrows-what with Fitch's female lead in The Truth committing suicide, and audiences at The City shocked and even fainting over Fitch's depiction of drug abuse, incest and an actor uttering the word "goddamn" for the first time on a Broadway stage. Off-stage, Fitch raised eyebrows with his sartorial flamboyance, effeminacy, luxurious lifestyle, and, early in his career, a brief romance with Oscar Wilde to whom he was often compared. Fitch died in France in 1909 at age 44.

Edith Wharton (1862 -1937) was a preeminent chronicler of turn of the century high society in her novels and short stories, and with 1920's The Age of Innocence, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize. Born into the upper reaches of America's privileged class, she was able to capture its nuance, cadence, and limitations. Yet she described that world with both a satiric detachment and an acutely feeling sense of human struggle within. Among her other best known works are Ethan Frome, The Custom of the Country, Old New York, and The Reef. She traveled extensively with her husband, and after their divorce in 1913, relocated from the home she had designed (The Mount, in Lenox MA) to France. She was active in reporting from the French front lines in World War I, and worked with a broad array of relief efforts during and after the war, earning the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Edith Wharton died of a stroke in her country estate outside of Paris in 1937.

The House of Mirth is directed by Alex Roe, Artistic Director of Metropolitan, whose recent productions include Uncle Tom's Cabin, One-Third of a Nation, Year One of the Empire, The Return of Peter Grimm, From Rags to Riches, and The Contrast. The House of Mirth stars Amanda Jones (The Contrast, Under the Gaslight) as Lily Bart, Jonathan Horvath as Lawrence Selden, Maria Silverman (The Contrast) as Gerty Farrish, and Peter Tedeschi (Uncle Tom's Cabin) as Simon Rosedale. Also featured are Laura Sametz as Bertha Dorset, Kelly King as George Dorset, and Rick Delaney (Uncle Tom's Cabin) as Gus Trenor. The cast is completed by Oliver Conant, Jane Cortney, Suzanne DuCharme, Erik A. Gullberg, Kerry Malloy, and Marie Marshall. Mr. Roe will design the set (as for this season's From Rags to Riches and The Jazz Singer); Lighting Design by Christopher Weston (Deep Are the Roots, The Jazz Singer, From Rags to Riches, One-Third of a Nation, Uncle Tom's Cabin) and Costumes by Sidney Fortner (Deep Are the Roots, The Jazz Singer, From Rags to Riches, The Great Divide, The Drunkard.)

Dramaturgy is by Leonard Jacobs, journalist, editor, reporter, blogger and critic; author of Historic Photos of Broadway and founder of The Clyde Fitch Report.

Metropolitan Playhouse is now in its 20th season, devoted to the theme of Class in American theater and culture. The Playhouse explores America's theatrical heritage through forgotten plays of the past and new plays of American historical and cultural moment. Called an "indispensable East Village institution" by nytheatre.com and "invaluable" by Back Stage, Metropolitan has earned accolades from The New York Times, and received a 2011 OBIE Grant from The Village Voice for its ongoing productions that illuminate who we are by revealing where we have come from. Recent productions include Deep Are the Roots, The Jazz Singer, From Rags to Riches, One-Third of a Nation, The Great Divide, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Drunkard, Dodsworth, NYIT award winning The Return of Peter Grimm, as well as the Alphabet City and East Village Chronicles series.

Performances
Saturday, April 21st through Sunday, May 20th, 2012
Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm.
Pay-What-You-Will performance on Monday, April 23rd at 7:30 pm.
Additional matinée Saturday, May 19th, at 3:00 pm.

Ticket Prices
$22 general admission, $18 students/seniors, and $10 children under 18.

To purchase tickets online visit www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/tickets, or call 212 995 5302.