Dana Ivey, Santino Fontana & More Join Brian Bedford in The Importance of Being Earnest

Complete casting has been announced for Roundabout Theatre Company's upcoming revival of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. In addition to the previously announced Brian Bedford, who will direct and star as Lady Bracknell, the cast will feature Dana Ivey as Miss Prism, Paxton Whitehead as Reverend Chausible, Santino Fontana as Algernon Moncrieff, David Furr as Jack Worthing, Tim MacDonald as Merriman, Paul O’Brien as Lane, Charlotte Parry as Cecily Cardew and Sara Topham as Gwendolyn.

The Tony-winning Bedford's production, which began life at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2009, will begin previews at the American Airlines Theatre on December 17 ahead of a January 13, 2011 opening.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a classic comedy of mistaken identity, which ridicules codes of propriety and etiquette. Dashing men-about-town John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff pursue fair ladies Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. Matters are complicated by the imaginary characters invented by both men to cover their on-the-sly activities—not to mention the disapproval of Gwendolen’s mother, the formidable Lady Bracknell. The play, which premiered in 1895 at the St. James Theatre in London, offers a stinging critique of love, sex and social hypocrisy that remains relevant today.

Ivey has previously appeared in Roundabout productions of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg and Major Barbara. She has appeared on Broadway in Butley, The Rivals, Last Night of Ballyhoo, Sunday in the Park with George and Heartbreak House, all of which earned her Tony Award nominations. Other Broadway credits include Henry IV,  Present Laughter, Pack of Lies, Waiting in the Wings, Marriage of Figaro, Sex and Longing and Indiscretions. She created the title role in the off-Broadway premiere of Driving Miss Daisy.

Whitehead counts Absurd Person Singular, My Fair Lady, Run for Your Wife, Noises Off , Camelot, The Crucifer of Blood, Candida and Beyond the Fringe among his Broadway credits.

Fontana has appeared on Broadway in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Billy Elliot and Sunday in the Park with George. Off-Broadway he appeared in the original revival cast of The Fantasticks, and he has been seen on hit television show The Good Wife.

Furr’s Broadway credits include Accent on Youth, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Cymbeline, King Lear and The Rivals.

MacDonald has been seen on Broadway in Timon of Athens, The Government Inspector and Two Shakespearean Actors. He is a Stratford Festival regular, appearing in such plays as King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, London Assurance, Present Laughter, All’s Well That Ends Well, Inherit the Wind, Tartuffe, The School for Scandal, The Tempest, The Little Foxes and Waiting for Godot.

O’Brien’s Broadway credits include After Miss Julie, Equus, King Lear, Twelfth Night, Democracy, and The Crucible. Off-Broadway credits include 3 Birds Alighting on a Field, The Seagull and Widow’s Blind Date.

Parry was a member of the inaugural year of Sam Mendes' Bridge Project, performing The Cherry Orchard and The Winters Tale at BAM and in the West End. She has previously been seen on Broadway: in Coram Boy and The Real Thing.

Stratford regular Sara Topham has appeared as the festival in Peter Pan, Dangerous Liaisons, The Importance of Being Earnest, King Lear, An Ideal Husband, The Merchant of Venice, The Glass Menagerie, London Assurance, As You Like It, Noises Off, Henry VIII, All’s Well That Ends Well and The Scarlet Pimpernel, among others.

The design team includes Desmond Heeley (Sets & Costumes), Duane Schuler (Lights) and Drew Levy (Sound).