Angela Lansbury Will Return to the Stage as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest Benefit Performance

Five-time Tony-winning stage-and-screen icon Angela Lansbury will head back to Broadway this fall, appearing in a one-night benefit staging of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest for Roundabout Theatre Company. Lansbury will portray the wise, prickly Lady Bracknell for the event, set to take place on November 18 at 7:30pm at the American Airlines Theatre. Michael Wilson will direct.

Lansbury is a Broadway legend who earned Tony Awards for Mame, Dear World, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and Blithe Spirit. She was also Tony-nominated for Deuce and A Little Night Music. Her screenwork has earned her 15 Emmy nominations, six Golden Globe Awards and three Oscar nominations, along with an Honorary Academy Award.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a 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 (Lansbury).

Additional cast members and creative team will be announced soon.