Adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray - Plays and Musicals

Plays and Musicals

• A theatrical production of The Picture of Dorian Gray was staged by John Osborne in the mid-1970s.
• The Hungarian playwright Matyas Varkonyi wrote a musical of the book. It was premiered in 1990.
• The Canadian playwright Ted Dykstra, along with lyricist Steven Mayoff, wrote a musical titled Dorian based upon the book. The musical premiered in 2002 and is set in the late 1900s, with the character of Dorian transformed from a member of the idle rich to an aspiring young model.
• In 2002 the team of Composer Eddie Reyes and Bookwriter/Lyricist Thomas Sheehan premiered their musical "Dorian Gray". http://doriangraythemusical.org
• In 2006, a Czech musical based on the novel premiered in Prague.
• In 2007, Australian production house Diatomic Productions commissioned playwrights Greg Eldridge and Liam Suckling to adapt the novel into a 3 act play. The world premiere of this work (held on May 22, 2008) sold out its season before Opening Night and returned to a second season of sell-out shows as part of the 2008 Melbourne Fringe Festival in October.
• Choreographer Matthew Bourne's contemporary dance adaptation of the story, titled "Dorian Gray" made its debut at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2008.
• In 2008, Canadian playwright Ian Case adapted the story as a site-specific 90-minute grand-guignol style production, staged at Robert Dunsmuir's Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, B.C., the most recent in a series of Halloween productions which started in 2000.
• A musical adaptation of the book by young theatre company Kangaroo Court ran at the Tabard theatre, Chiswick in 2008. The updated version centres on celebrity obsession and excesses.
• In 2000, Dorian, a musical with book, music & lyrics by Richard Gleaves, premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House starring Tom Stuart and Sutton Foster (as the invented character of Sister Claire)
• Dorian the Remarkable Mister Gray: A Portrait in Music, is a new stage musical version of, with music, lyrics, and book by Randy Bowser. The work had its premiere at Pentacle Theatre in Salem, Oregon, in 2008. A Russian version is being produced in Moscow, at The Stas Namin Cente]. The show is represented exclusively by Michael Butler, the original producer of Hair on Broadway.
• In January 2009, Dorian Gray was adapted and directed by Linnie Reedman, with music by Joe Evans. Produced by Ruby In The Dust, the show returned to The Leicester Square theatre with an all-star cast on 26 June 2009, and again re-staged in March 2010 under the title of The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray.
• An operatic version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was staged by Lowell Liebermann. Liebermann wanted to base a play on The Picture of Dorian Gray because "the book made an impression on as no other book has yet done". Premiered at the Monte Carlo Opera in 1996.
• In January 2010, Dorian Gray was adapted by Daniel Mitura and directed by Henning Hegland. Music by Michael Nyman. The show premiered at the Kirk Theatre on 42nd Street in New York.
• On March 7, 2011, Wesley Taylor played the title role in a reading for a stage adpatation penned by playwright Michael Raver. It was directed by Quinten Gordon and co-starred Lauren Molina.