Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Experience a highly acclaimed Broadway play without leaving North Carolina. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of North Carolina Wilmington presents Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, captured live in high-definition during a performance at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The play will be shown at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 2 in UNCW's Lumina Theater.

This new theatrical project, bringing the best of Broadway to movie audiences in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa is the first high-definition film performance of a Broadway play.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy about class, courtship and mistaken identity, which ridicules codes of propriety and etiquette. Tony Award-winner Brian Bedford directs and stars as Lady Bracknell in this trivial comedy for serious people. Bedford is expected to have another strong awards season this year for his spectacular performance.

Critical reviews for The Importance of Being Earnest:

"The finest performance of The Importance of Being Earnest that I have ever seen."
- Daily Telegraph (UK)

"Profoundly funny and deeply moving. Brian Bedford is giving the performance of a lifetime."
- Adam Green, Vogue

"The great casting and critical raves make this Earnest production a "must-see"; yet theater lovers can't always travel to New York to catch an engagement. Cinema audiences who otherwise might miss out will really appreciate the opportunity to see Earnest captured live from the Broadway stage -- just as the show is performed to a live audience -- exhibited in their neighborhood movie theater." - Julie Borchard-Young of BY Experience

For more information about this production, visit: www.roundabouttheatre.org/broadway/theimportanceofbeingearnest/hd/

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets prices are $20 General Admission, $18 OLLI Members and $12 Youth/Students. Tickets are available online through www.uncw.edu/olli or by calling OLLI's registrar at 910.962.3195. The registrar can also provide information regarding OLLI membership.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.508.3127 or fischettid@uncw.edu