Alert Janeite Heather L. sent us a link to a listing of upcoming programs on PBS, including the “Jane Austen Festival” on Masterpiece Theatre.

Jane Austen Festival
Producing organizations: WGBH and various co-producers. Presented by Masterpiece Theatre. Distributor: WGBH. Episodes: 3 productions 1 x 90-120, 1 production 2 x 120. Status: production. Major funders: PBS, CPB. Executive producer: Rebecca Eaton. Contact: Andrea Flores, andrea_floresatwgbh.org; 617-300-2561.

New adaptations of four Austen novels—Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion—will be scheduled over the course of the 2007-08 Masterpiece Theatre season to create a programming event.

Several new nuggets of information can be gleaned from this tidbit. We know that the three ITV films are all 90-120 minute productions shown as a single episode, so that means that S&S07, as long suspected, will be two 2-hour episodes, like the recent production of JANE EYRE (which we rather enjoyed, by the bye).

Also, please note that it is scheduled “over the course of the 2007-2008 season,” which means that the films might not air one after the other–they might be scattered throughout the Masterpiece Theatre season. Or maybe not. But we should be prepared for that eventuality.

ETA: Masterpiece Theatre will broadcast films beginning in January 2008.

LA Brain Terrain reports that soprano Julianne Baird and her accompanists will be performing “Music from Jane Austen’s Collection” this Sunday, February 4, 2007, at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, California. Tickets are $25 with the usual discounts. Please visit the Con Gioia Web site for details and ordering information.

The Editrix has had the pleasure of hearing Professor Baird perform selections from Jane Austen’s own music collection and encourages SoCal Janeites to make every effort to attend.

The Garland Civic Theatre of Dallas, Texas, is staging a new adaptation of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE now through February 17, 2007.

Pride and Prejudice belongs to the romantic-comedy genre and is the most famous of Jane Austen’s novels. It is a story of first impressions and vanity, of truth and falsehoods, of re-evaluations, love and, of course, of unyielding pride and blinding prejudice, told with a wry, incisive humor. Lissa Creola, who graduated from Southern Methodist University, adapted the work the stage. Its premier production was by Bucket Productions at the Bath House Cultural Center in February of 2001. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reviewer said, “Bucket Productions’ theatrical adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ . . . unfolds like a good episode of Masterpiece Theatre. . . . Lissa Creola has done a masterful job of wrestling the sprawling, wordy novel into a compact theatrical package.” The reviewer from The Dallas Morning News related, “There’s a good reason Jane Austen is so popular on movie screens: great dialogue. That same quality makes Lissa Creola’s stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice delicious. …The lean, efficient script crackled pleasantly at Thursday’s opening. Ms. Creola has taken on a difficult assignment and triumphed in the same modest but undeniable way as her heroines.”

Performances are held at the Granville Arts Center. Tickets are $16-20 and are available online. AustenBlog would love a review from a reader who gets to see this production.

We’re kind of surprised it hasn’t happened yet, actually.

As one Hollywood agent said to me: ” I would kill to represent that woman. I could get her multiple overall deals with every studio in town, plus a play-or-play for a series based on that Lizzie-I’m-not-prejudiced-chick. Sheesh, you sure she’s like dead?”

We retire, torn between hilarity and horror.