The premiere Broadway production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" opened at the Lyceum Theater in New York City on April 22, 1895, ran for twelve performances and has been revived in New York City eight times since, as of 2010.
This movie takes place in 1895.
This version restores a brief scene in which a solicitor, with a writ for the committal of 'Mr Ernest Worthing' to prison for a £762 14s 2d debt to the Savoy, arrives at The Manor House. Wilde had removed this scene before its first performance, to help reduce the play to three acts.