THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Welcomes Murray, Houdyshell, Austrian

Brian Murray, Jayne Houdyshell and Jessie Austrian will join the critically acclaimed Broadway production of Oscar Wilde's comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by and starring Brian Bedford as "Lady Bracknell," at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway.

Dana Ivey, Paxton Whitehead and Sara Topham played their final performance on Sunday, March 20th. Brian Murray (Rev. Canon Chasuble), Jayne Houdyshell (Miss Prism) and Jessie Austrian (Gwendolen Fairfax) will begin performances tonight (Tuesday, March 22nd).

The limited engagement of The Importance of Being Earnest has been extended 17-weeks through Sunday, July 3rd, 2011. It was originally scheduled to run through March 6th, 2011.

The Importance of Being Earnest cast also features Santino Fontana as "Algernon Moncrieff," David Furr as "John Worthing," Tim MacDonald as "Merriman," Paul O'Brien as "Lane," and Charlotte Parry as "Cecily Cardew." The design team includes Desmond Heeley (Sets & Costumes), Duane Schuler (Lights) and Drew Levy (Sound).

The Importance of Being Earnest is a glorious comedy of mistaken identity, which ridicules codes of propriety and etiquette. Dashing men-about-town John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff pursue fair ladies Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. Matters are complicated by the imaginary characters invented by both men to cover their on-the-sly activities - not to mention the disapproval of Gwendolen's mother, the formidable Lady Bracknell.

Wilde's classic production premiered in 1895 at the St. James Theatre in London offering a stinging critique of love, sex and social hypocrisy that remains relevant today.

This production is based on the highly acclaimed production of The Importance of Being Earnest originally mounted at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2009. Following the extended run of The Importance of Being Earnest at Roundabout, Brian Bedford and Sara Topham will return to Stratford to appear in The Misanthrope which runs from July 31 to October 29, 2011.

Tickets are available by calling Roundabout Ticket Services at (212)719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines Box Office (227 West 42nd Street). Ticket prices range from $72.00-122.00.

To become a Roundabout subscriber visit www.roundabouttheatre.org or call Roundabout Ticket Services (212)719-1300.

The Importance of Being Earnest plays Wednesday through Saturday evening at 8:00PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00PM. Tuesday evening performances will begin at 7:00PM.

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Jayne Houdyshell (Miss Prism ). Bway: Bye Bye Birdie (Roundabout), Wicked, Well (Tony nomination, Theatre World Award). Off-Bway: The Language Archive, Roundabout, Coraline, MCC (Drama Desk & Lortel nom); The Receptionist, MTC (Lortel & Drama League noms); The New Century, LCT (Outer Critics & Drama League nom); The Pain and the Itch, Playwrights Horizons (Drama League nom); Well, The Public Theater (Obie Award & Drama Desk, Outer Critics & Lortel nom); Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare in the Park; True Love, Zipper Theatre. Regional: Steppenwolf Theatre, Wilma Theater, Yale Repertory, McCarter Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, etc. Film: Morning Glory, The Bounty Hunter, Everybody's Fine, Garden State, Trust the Man, Changing Lanes. Television: "Unorthodox," "Conviction," "Law & Order," "Third Watch." 115-words

Brian Murray (Rev. Canon Chasuble). Broadway: Mary Stuart, The Rivals, The Crucible (Tony nom.), Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nom.), Twelfth Night, The Little Foxes (Drama Desk Award, Tony nom.), Racing Demon, A Small Family Business (Drama Desk nom.), Noises Off (Drama Desk Award), Black Comedy, Sleuth, Da, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tony nom.) His numerous Off Broadway appearances include Me, Myself And I, Keep Your Pantheon, Gaslight, Colder Than Here, Much Ado About Nothing, Beckett/Albee, Scattergood, Hobson's Choice, The Play About the Baby (Obie Award), Travels with My Aunt (Drama Desk, OCC awards), Ashes (Obie). Recipient: 1998 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, 1998 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, Fox Foundation Fellow.

Jessie Austrian (Gwendolen Fairfax). Roundabout: The Marriage of Bette and Boo. Broadway: Lend Me a Tenor. Off-Broadway: Fiasco Theater's Cymbeline, presented by Theatre For A New Audience. Regional: Jane Eyre, Guthrie Theater; Is He Dead?, Pioneer Theatre; The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Trinity Repertory Company; My Fair Lady, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Playhouse and Virginia Stage Company; and Cabaret & Main, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Co-founder and co-artistic director of Fiasco Theater, where she is also a teaching artist for the Free Training Initiative. www.fiascotheater.com. Proud graduate oF Brown University and the Brown/Trinity MFA Acting Program.

Roundabout Theatre Company is a not-for-profit theatre dedicated to providing a nurturing artistic home for theatre artists at all stages of their careers where the widest possible audience can experience their work at affordable prices. Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the revival of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established playwrights and emerging
writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate loyal audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State's 62 counties; and the City of New York Theater Subdistrict Council, LDC and the City of New York.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2010-2011 season features Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, starring and directed by Brian Bedford; Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore starring Olympia Dukakis, directed by Michael Wilson; Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster & Joel Grey, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall; David West Read's The Dream of the Burning Boy, directed by Evan Cabnet and Stoller, Stoller, Butler & Dart's The People in the Picture, starring Donna Murphy, directed by Leonard Foglia; Stone, Meehan & Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday, directed by Doug Hughes.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 2011-2012 will feature Bob Fosse's Dancin', directed by Graciela Daniele; Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet, directed by Peter DuBois; John Osborne's Look Back in Anger, directed by Sam Gold.

 

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos