Pacino performs Oscar Wilde’s “Salome”

Al Pacino, Kevin Anderson and Jessica Chastain will appear in a presentation with music of Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece “Salome” at the Wadsworth Theatre for 26 performances only, April 14 to May 14.

A dramatic production based on the biblical tale of lust and revenge, “Salome” draws the audience into a decadent world of passion and betrayal. The story follows the legend of King Herod and his unbridled desire for Salome, the young daughter of his wife, Herodias. Indifferent to his advances, Salome longs for the love of the imprisoned John the Baptist. When he rejects her, she uses her powers of seduction and manipulation and the “Dance of the Seven Veils” to seek her revenge.

Presented as it was on Broadway during the spring of 2003, it will again be directed by Estelle Parsons with original music by Yukio Tsuji. Pacino and Parsons spent almost two years developing this production before bringing it to Broadway.

Oscar Wilde, an Irish-born English poet, novelist and playwright was considered an eccentric. He was a leader of the aesthetic movement that advocated “art for art’s sake” and was once imprisoned for two years with hard labor for homosexual practices. “Salome” was written in 1893 in French and was refused a license in London. Thirteen years later it was adapted by Richard Strauss into a successful opera.

Tickets are available at the Wadsworth Theatre Box Office, 11301 Wilshire Blvd. on the Veterans Administration Grounds, by phone at Ticketmaster at (13)365 3500, at all Ticketmaster outlet and online at www.WadsworthTheatre.com Prices for “Salome” range from $68 to $93, with VIP available. Al Pacinolap-pacino.0413.jpg-BPhotoInfoMO1PS77H20060413ixkx73nc(LA)