Broadway Play Home

Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners

Story:

Whenever Jack Worthing slips away to London from his Hertfordshire estate, he says he is going to see his (fictitious) wayward brother Ernest. Once there he keeps his privacy by calling himself Ernest - luckily so as his beloved Gwendolen declares she could only love an Ernest. Her cousin Algy is the one person who knows Jack's secret and one day he travels down to the estate, announcing himself to Jack's attractive ward Cecily as bad brother Ernest. Cecily is much taken with him and with his name, so on Jack's return home and Gwendolen's unexpected arrival, it becomes clear there are both too many and too few Ernests earnestly courting.

: Playwright
Oscar Wilde

Broadway Premiere

Theatre: Empire Theatre

Opening Night: Apr 22, 1895

Total Performances: 40

Original Cast: Viola Allen, E. Y. Backus, W.H. Crompton, William Faversham, Agnes Miller, Henry Miller, May Robson, Ida Vernon, W. J. Whitman

1902 Broadway Revival

Theatre: Empire Theatre

Opening Night: Apr 14, 1902

Total Performances: 49

Original Cast: Margaret Anglin, Frank Brownlee, William Courtenay, W.H. Crompton, Margaret Dale, Ethel Hornick, George Osbourne, Charles Richman, Mrs. Thomas Whiffen

Producer: Charles Frohman

1910 Broadway Revival

Theatre: Lyceum Theatre

Opening Night: Nov 14, 1910

Total Performances: 48

Original Cast: May Blayney, Florence Edney, A. E. Matthews, Jane Oaker, Frederick Raymond, Hamilton Revelle, Albert Tavernier, Ethel Winthrop

Producer: Charles Frohman

1921 Broadway Revival

Theatre: Bramhall Playhouse

Opening Night: Jan 20, 1921

Total Performances: 44

Original Cast: Butler Davenport, Alvin Dexter, Mabel Frenyear, Charlotte Granville, Frank B. Hollins, Helen Link, Eleanor Martin, J. Cleneay Mathews, Edwin Strawbridge

Producer: Butler Davenport

1926 Broadway Revival

Theatre: Comedy Theatre

Opening Night: May 3, 1926

Total Performances: 70

Original Cast: Patricia Collinge, Dudley Digges, Gerald Hamer, Haroldine Humphreys, Reginald Owen, Catherine Proctor, Wallace Roberts, Vernon Steele, Lucile Watson

Director: Dudley Digges

Producer: The Actors Theatre

1939 Broadway Revival

Theatre: Vanderbilt Theatre

Opening Night: Jan 12, 1939

Total Performances: 61

Original Cast: Clifton Webb, Hope Williams, Estelle Winwood, A. G. Andrews, Ainsworth Arnold, Florence McGee, Guy SpaullLane, Helen Trenholme, Derek Williams

Director: Estelle Winwood

Producer: Richard Aldrich and Richard Myers

Scenic Design: Watson Barratt

1977 Broadway Revival

Theatre: Circle in the Square Theatre

Opening Night: Jun 16, 1977

Total Performances: 85

Original Cast: Patricia Conolly, John Glover, James Valentine, Kathleen Widdoes, Elizabeth Wilson, Mary Louise Wilson, G. Wood, Munson Hicks, Thomas Ruisinger

Director: Stephen Porter

Producer: Circle in the Square

Scenic Design: Zack Brown

Costume Design: Ann Roth

Lighting Design: John McLain

2011 Broadway Revival

Theatre: American Airlines Theatre

Opening Night: Jan 13, 2011

Total Performances: 189

Original Cast: Brian Bedford, Dana Ivey, Paxton Whitehead, Amanda Leigh Cobb, David Furr, Tim MacDonald, Paul O'Brien, Charlotte Parry, Sara Topham