Act III Act III moves into the drawing room. Arriving in pursuit of her daughter, Lady Bracknell is astonished to be told that Algernon and Cecily are engaged. The size of Cecily’s trust fund soon dispels her initial doubts over the young lady’s suitability, but any engagement is forbidden by her guardian Jack: he will consent only if Lady Bracknell agrees to his own union with Gwendolen—something she declines to do. The impasse is broken by the return of Miss Prism, whom Lady Bracknell recognises as the person who, twenty-eight years earlier, as a family nursemaid, had taken a baby boy for a walk in a perambulator (baby carriage) and never returned. Challenged, Miss Prism explains that she had abstractedly put the manuscript of a novel she was writing in the perambulator, and the baby in a handbag, which she had left at Victoria Station. Jack produces the very same handbag, showing that he is the lost baby, the elder son of Lady Bracknell’s late sister, and thus indeed Algernon’s elder brother. Having acquired such respectable relations, he is acceptable as a suitor for Gwendolen after all. Gwendolen, though, still insists that she can only love a man named Ernest. What is her fiancé’s real first name? Lady Bracknell informs Jack that, as the first-born, he would have been named after his father, General Moncrieff. Jack examines the army lists and discovers that his father’s name – and hence his own real name— was in fact Ernest. Pretence was reality all along. As the happy couples embrace—Jack and Gwendolen, Algernon and Cecily, and even Dr. Chasuble and Miss Prism—Lady Bracknell complains to her newfound relative: “My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.” “On the contrary, Aunt Augusta”, he replies, “I’ve now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of being Earnest.” The Cast: M5 F4. Extras SCENES AND SETTINGS Act I • Outside Green Park, in the heart of London, 1895. • Lake's, one of London's most fashionable tailors. • The morning-room in Algernon's flat in Half Moon Street. • In the grounds of the Manor House, Woolton, Hertfordshire. • A secluded corner of the flower garden. • The trellis garden Act II • The topiary garden. • The terrace at tea time. • The conservatory at the Manor House. • The library of the Manor House MUSICAL NUMBERS: 1. Overture / A Fine and Gracious City 2. Bunburying 3. One Love / The Importance of Being Earnest 4. Your Engagement 5. Bunburying (Reprise) 6. I Must Write That Down Before I Forget 7. I Need Someone To Rescue Me / I Must Write That Down Before I Forget (Reprise) 8. Every Flower In The Garden 9. Sincerely Yours 10. Your Duty As a Gentleman 11. The Importance of Being Earnest 12. I Am Never Wrong 13. May I Offer You a Cup Of Tea? 14. Yes For a Woman He Will 15. One Vital Question 16. My Ward / Your Engagement (Reprise) 17. Borne In a Handbag 18. The Importance of Being Earnest (Finale) ORCHESTRATION Trumpet, Woodwind, Synthesizer, Percussion, Double Bass, Piano DISCOGRAPHY The Importance - The Musical Version of The Importance of Being Earnest by Original Studio Cast Recording
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