_Private Lives_ - due 07 November
Private Lives, the story of two bickering ex-spouses who fall in love all over again even though they're on honeymoon with a new husband and a new wife in tow, has been an audience favorite since its premiere in London, where Coward and soulmate Gertrude Lawrence (above, 1930) played the leads and a young Laurence Olivier played the priggish supporting role of Victor.Tallulah Bankhead, Maggie Smith, Joan Collins, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton went on to star in the show, which has had six Broadway revivals.
_Pygmalion_ -due 31 October 2006
G.B. Shaw bases his play Pygmalion on the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion, which comes to us through Ovid's Metamorphosis.
This myth remains a popular theme for performance, bothdramatic and visual.
The picture is called Galatea of the Spheres, and was painted by Salvador Dali in 1952.
_The Importance of Being Earnest_ - 17 October 2006
"The only way to atone for being occasionally a little overdressed is by being always absolutely over-educated"(2.3).
We return to comedy of manners this week, this time set in Victorian England. I really look forward to your responses to this one! As you read, think about the play's subtitle: A Trivial Play for Serious People. Who and what does Wilde consider trivial, or serious? As usual, your response may center on any aspect(s) of the play that you would like to discuss.
The photo depicts a scene from the first production of the play, in 1895. Allan Aynesworth as Algernon and George Alexander as Jack --photgraphed by Alfred Ellis. (www.courttheatre.org)
_The Mikado_ - due by 10 October
Please remember as you read Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado that this work is a libretto, or the text from a musical work. The picture is of Monty Python's Eric Idle, who starred as Ko-ko in both stage and screen versions.
