Gotham Radio Theater’s Broadcast of Lady Windemere’s Fan and Sorry, Wrong Number

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• Audio (35.8MB MP3, 1 hr 18 min)

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ is an Oscar Wilde classic that showcases his trademark wit and is known as a charming, touching piece.  Gotham Radio’s performance brings this celebrated piece to life in their unique ‘radio’ style, complete with Foley sound effects.  (A podcast of the show appears on the NYPL website.)

Set amidst the swirl of London society in 1893, Lady Windermere is about to celebrate her birthday. A happily married woman, she has a young son and very strict moral standards. The fan of the title is inscribed with her name, Margaret, and a birthday gift from her adoring husband.  When young Lady Windermere finds herself in a compromising position, she is forced to go into hiding, but the tell-tale fan could give away her presence and ruin her reputation. With great storytelling, secret histories revealed and the biting epigrams he is known for, Oscar Wilde blends the black and white of “good” and “bad” into gray.

Inspired by the Lux Radio Theatre of the 1930’s and 40’s, Gotham Radio Theatre brings the experience of actors performing in vintage radio style. Masterpiece plays and screenplays are performed live, by an ensemble of actors and sound performers as if you were in a radio sound stage.

The New York Public Library presented three performances of the Wilde play. The library itself also features the Musical of the Month as part of their blog channels.

The Gotham’s fall season continues with Lucille Fletcher’s chilling  Sorry Wrong Number on Sunday, October 23rd:

“In this thriller, Leona Stevenson is sick and confined to her bed. One night, while waiting for her husband to return home, she picks up the phone and accidentally overhears a conversation between two men planning a murder. She becomes increasingly desperate as she tries to work out who the victim is in order to prevent the crime. Could it be her? Will anyone believe her? How can she protect herself from brutal killers with only a phone by her bedside?”

See ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ page for the Cast List and the clip at the website from the movie starring Barbara Stanwyck … if you dare.  Generic Radio Workshop has the script for the August 21, 1943 broadcast.

The text for this post and illustration is courtesy of the Gotham Radio Theatre.