CT's Long Wharf Theatre will replace Much Ado About Nothing in their season schedule with a production of Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest, starring Long Wharf favorite, Christopher Evan Welch. The production will take place at the Long Wharf, April 30-June 6, 1999.

According to Long Wharf spokesperson Kimberly Sewright (Dec. 2), the move occurred, "because he [Artistic Director Doug Hughes] really wanted to work with [Christopher Evan] Welch, and for Much Ado, he wanted a to assemble dream cast -- which he didn't feel was possible in the amount of time available."

Wilde's comedy of romantic charades, Earnest deals with numerous cases of multiple hidden identities among the upper crust in fin de siecle England. Love, reputations, social standing and fortunes hang in the balance. All is expressed in Wilde's witty, epigrammatic dialogue that is the play's main claim to immortality.

Welch is best known to New York audiences for his work with Bill Irwin in Scapin at the Roundabout.

Long Wharf is now scheduled to produce Much Ado in its 1999-00 season. For tickets or more information on the Long Wharf season, call (203) 787 4282.