A witty Oscar Wilde classic will be staged at Le Petit, and the Shakespeare Fest returns

The British are coming … to a stage near you. A pair of fanciful English authors make an impact on society and come to life in Crescent City productions.

Wilde about ‘Earnest’

It could be a case of “everything old is new again.”

Old: Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

New: A production at Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, directed by A.J. Allegra. He’s no stranger to directing, but this show marks his “debut” with the new title of artistic director at one of the country’s oldest community theaters.

And while the show is set in the latter part of the 19th century in the Old World (England, to be specific), it touches on contemporary social issues in the New World in the 21st century.

Old and new. The show, one of the British author’s most popular works, is subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.”

“That is at the heart of the wit that Wilde likes to play with in the production,” said Allegra. 

The comedic farce centers on English gentry, mistaken and concealed identities, love and other entanglements. The show “plays with expectations we have in society,” said Allegra, adding Wilde is satirizing the British upper class in 1895.

The lyrical nature of Wilde’s turns of phrase is another facet to the show that connects past and present.

“The language is just as witty today,” he said. “Wilde’s witticisms are just as true today as they were in 1895.

“It sounds to the ear just as fresh and funny as it did 130 years ago. It doesn’t feel like a museum piece.”

Appearing in the show as Ernest or Jack is Noah Hazzard, with Rohan Padmakumar as his friend Algernon and Tracey E. Collins as the regal Lady Bracknell. Also appearing are Yvette Bourgeois, Kyle Daigrepont, David W. Hoover, Bethany Lee and Queen Shereen Macklin.

The period piece comes with additional efforts, Allegra noted.

“Beautiful costumes, lavish sets, lots of prop work,” he said. There are more details and a more exacting process of assembling those things, he said, crediting the production staff with attention to detail.

The show opens at 7:30 p.m. June 7 and runs through June 23 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Special matinees are at 11 a.m. June 13 and 2 p.m. The playhouse is at 616 St. Peter St. Tickets start at $35. Visit lepetittheatre.com.

Bard in brief

The concept of an evening with one of the greatest playwrights in history is enticing. But all of the Bard’s writings in one sitting, 90 minutes even?

Leave it to the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival to get things off to a rollicking start for their 2024 season with “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again].”

A trio of local talents — Keith Claverie, Ian Hock and Lauren Malara — spin into action on the comedic journey by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield.

The actors attempt to perform all 37 works in bits and pieces, with some hilarious effects, as the stories overlap, extrapolate and convey some Shakespeare’s genius.

From “Hamlet” to “Twelfth Night” and on to a “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the classic works are parodied and skewered in this piece directed by Graham Burk.

The show opens at 7:30 p.m. June 7 and runs through June 16 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at 150 Dixon Hall Annex at Tulane University on Newcomb Circle of the Uptown campus. Tickets start at $40. Visit neworleansshakespeare.org.

Opening this week May 30-June 5

“THE CAKE”: Opening 7:30 p.m. Friday, running 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through June 16; Marquette Theater, Loyola University, 6363 St. Charles Ave. Crescent City Stage presents Bekah Brunstetter’s comedy about a conservative North Carolina baker named Della who’s asked to make a wedding cake for her late best friend’s daughter Jen — who happens to be marrying a woman of color. Talkbacks will be held June 2 and 9 after the matinees. Tickets start at $10. crescentcitystage.com.

In production