London Odds & Ends: Kerry Ellis Set for The Importance of Being Earnest UK Tour & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.

Kerry Ellis Set for The Importance of Being Earnest UK Tour
Wicked veteran and Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winner Kerry Ellis will star as Gwendolen in a 2018 UK tour of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. The production will begin on January 24 at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford and end on April 28 in Eastbourne. Ellis will be joined by Geoff Aymer, Louise Coulthard, Thomas Howes, Peter Sandys-Clarke and Simon Shackleton, playing Chasuble, Cecily, Algernon, Jack and Lane/Merriman, respectively. In The Importance of Being Earnest, Jack wishes to marry Algernon’s cousin, the beautiful Gwendolen, but first he must convince her mother, the fearsome Lady Bracknell, of the respectability of his parents and his past. Hannah Louise Howell will play the role of Gwendolen at certain performances.

Casting Complete for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic
The stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's film Fanny & Alexander has announced full casting for its production with London's Old Vic. Adapted by Stephen Beresford and directed by Max Webster, Fanny & Alexander will begin previews on February 21, 2018 and officially open on March 1. Fanny & Alexander takes place in 1900s Sweden, where siblings Fanny and Alexander's world is turned upside down when their widowed mother remarries the iron-willed local bishop. The role of Fanny will be alternately played by Zaris Angel Hator, Amy Jayne Leigh, Molly Shenker and Katie Simons, with the role of Alexander rotated among Guillermo Bedward, Kit Connor, Jack Falk and Misha Handley. The company will also include Penelope Wilton, Thomas Arnold, Lolita Chakrabarti, Kevin Doyle, Karina Fernandez, Annie Firbank, Matt Gavan, Tim Lewis, Gary MacKay, Gloria Obianyo, Vivian Oparah, Michael Pennington, Hannah James Scott, Jonathan Slinger, Catherine Walker and Sargon Yelda.

Tony Nominee Joanna Lumley Announces Touring Solo Show
Tony nominee Joanna Lumley (La Bête) will embark on her first touring solo show, It's All About Me, in fall 2018. The 30-date tour will begin on October 6 at Belfast's Waterfront Hall followed by appearances at major theaters in Ireland and across the U.K., before finishing in Aylesbury on November 10. Lumley will take audiences through hilarious and interesting adventures from her throughout career, recounting never-before-heard stories. In addition to Lumley's stage résumé, she is the winner of two BAFTA Awards for her performance on the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. We have no doubt her solo show will be just that.