After the Ball

After the Ball

After the Ball

After the Ball

Overview

This concert version of the Noël Coward musical based on Oscar Wilde's classic play premiered at the Covent Garden Festival and the Chicago Humanities Festival to honor Noël Coward in his Centenary Year. The young Lady Windermere discovers that her husband has been seeing Mrs. Erlynne, a fascinating older woman, so she determines to run away with her admirer, Lord Darlington. Her honor is saved when Mrs. Erlynne intervenes and, in the process, compromises herself in the eyes of Victorian society. Lady Windermer never learns that her savior is the mother she thought was dead. This period concert version restores Coward's original libretto, reinstates important cut songs and adds new linking material.

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Cautions

  • Caution Mild Adult Mild Adult Themes

Details

  • Genre: Adaptation (Stage & Screen), Period, Romantic Comedy
  • Time Period: 1900-1910, Victorian (British and American)
  • Cast Attributes: Ensemble Cast, Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)
  • Target Audience: Adult

Authors

Noël Coward

Noël Peirce Coward was born in 1899 and made his professional stage debut as Prince Mussel in The Goldfish at the age of 12, leading to many child actor appearances over the next few years. His breakthrough in playwriting was the controversial The Vortex (1924), which feature ...

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Author

Barry Day

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane. While studying at Oxford, he was fascinated by the aesthetic movement and eventually became a proponent for L'art pour l'art ("Art for Art's Sake") and wrote the award-winning poem "Ravenna." U ...

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