It would have occurred to someone, eventually, that the drawing-room comedy, The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde would make the transition to musical comedy, with little effort required. After all, Wilde’s spectacular use of English social rules and his deft way with prose meant that most of the wok would already have been done.

Ernest in Love (1960) was an off-Broadway show which took Wilde’s intricate tale of love and marriage and turned it into a musical, with music by Lee Pockriss and lyrics and book by Anne Croswell.

The show kept the fanciful, farcical nature of the original, whilst ditching the satirical look at Victorian social moirés, which reduced love and marriage into a minefield of social standing and position, which originally leaves Ernest at a disadvantage, having been found as a waif in a handbag at Victoria station.

The show opens with tradesmen berating the upper classes for not paying their bills - 'Come Raise Your Cup' - which introduces the audience to the society within which the tale will take place. The tale, like the original, is simple and revolves around two men, Jack Worthing (John Irving), who is also Ernest, and his friend, Algernon Moncrieff (Louis Edmonds), who has invented an alter ego in the form of Mr Bunbury. The two are both in love. Suffice it to say that the switching of identities causes much confusion, which is where both the original social comment and comedy sprang from.

So, what of the show? Actually it maintains a lightness of touch in line with the original, containing much of Wilde’s quotable references; without being a slavish copy. By far the best song in the show is Lady Bracknell’s (Sara Seegar) 'A Handbag is not a Proper Mother'. Of course the two bows must have the objects of their affections, Gwendolyn Fairfax (Leila Martin) and Cecily (Gerriane Raphael). Through a series of unbelievable coincidences it turns out that jack is actually Lady Bracknell’s long lost nephew and brother to Algy.

The track listing for the show is as follows:

Act I

'Come Raise Your Cup', 'How Do You Find the Words?', 'The Hat', 'Mr. Bunbury', 'Perfection', 'A Handbag is Not a Proper Mother', 'A Wicked Man', 'Metaphorically Speaking.

Act II

'You Can't Make Love', 'Lost', 'My Very First Impression', 'The Muffin Song', 'My Eternal Devotion', 'The Muffin Song', 'Ernest In Love'.

The simplification of the plot might offend hard-line fans of Wilde, but in retaining the tone and the frivolity of the piece, I don’t think that Wilde would have minded the show too much.

7

Charles Packer