**Photo from the Ann Arbor District Library blog
What: Oscar Wilde’s classic “trivial comedy for serious people,” performed by students in the Department of Musical Theatre
When:
- February 17, 2023 8:00PM
- February 18, 2023 8:00PM
- February 19, 2023 2:00PM
Where: Arthur Miller Theater (map)
Tickets: $13 for students, $23.50 regular
I love The Importance of Being Earnest, a comedy of manners by Oscar Wilde. One of my favorite memories from high school involved myself and my classmates, many of whom were friends from drama club, reading the play in turns during English. I struggled to describe the story in a nutshell myself, so I’ll quote a fan-blog from 2015 which describes it as “the story of two bachelors, John ‘Jack’ Worthing and Algernon ‘Algy’ Moncrieff, who create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives. They attempt to win the hearts of two women who, conveniently, claim to only love men called Ernest” (source). I am super excited to see the work interpreted by the Department of Musical Theatre (although the play is decidedly not a musical, so I’m curious what the reasoning was there), and how they have shaped it to fit the in-the-round style of the Arthur Miller Theater. On a more serious note, laughter can be a strong form of self-care, and after this long and sad week, I highly recommend this show to anyone who feels it might help them recover.
