Adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray


Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray has inspired many cinematic, literary, and artistic adaptations.

On screen

Chronological by release or broadcast.

Theatrical films

Television

Audio

Literature

  • Family Portrait is a horror novel by Graham Masterton in which he appropriates Wilde's aging portrait to a whole family.Mirror, Mirror, a horror novel by DE Athkins that updates the setting to a high school and makes the protagonist a female. After being befriended by a mysterious new student who gives her a mirror as a birthday present, Dore finds her reflection becoming more and more ugly, even as she appears lovelier, coinciding with her increasingly nasty personality.Dorian: A Sequel to the Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel written by Jeremy Reed; in this novel, Dorian has survived the destruction of the portrait and suffers the consequences as a visibly old and ugly man.
  • "The Wedding Present", a short story in the anthology Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman re-imagines the story from the perspective of a modern newlywed wife. Characters in "The Wedding Present" make several references to the similarities between their situation and the original novel.
  • Dorian, an Imitation is a modern take of the original book, written by Will Self. It updates the original by placing events in June 1981, a time according to Self when "Britain was in the process of burning most of its remaining illusions."
  • The Detritus of Dorian Gray is the name of a 2003 book of poems written by Kevin Max, which includes an entry also titled The Detritus of Dorian Gray.
  • A Portrait of Dorian Gray is the fashion designer and photographer Karl Lagerfeld's rendition of the novel in photography. The models Larry Scott and Eva Herzigova star as Mr. and Mrs. Dorian Gray.
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray is a graphic novel adaptation by Roy Thomas for Marvel Illustrated.
  • Creatures of Will and Temper by Molly Tanzer is a gender-swapped spin on the story. In the book's preamble, Tanzer states her intention to reimagine the novel's central quest for hedonism without moral judgment, writing that "if truly were amoral, as Wilde maintains, Dorian's excesses would not corrupt his perfect painted image." Her version notably omits the key role of the eponymous portrait.

Plays and musicals

Music theatre and opera

  • A Hungarian musical based on the novel was composed by Mátyás Várkonyi, while Gunar Braunke and János Ács wrote its libretto. It premiered in Rockszínház in 1990. The English version of the musical premiered in London in 1995. The German-language version of Dorian Gray toured in Germany for years, and also in the Netherlands, France and Switzerland.
  • In 2000, Dorian, a musical with book, music & lyrics by Richard Gleaves, premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House starring Tom Stuart and Sutton Foster
  • The Canadian playwright Ted Dykstra and lyricist Steven Mayoff wrote a musical Dorian. The musical premiered in 2002 and is set in the late 1900s, with the character of Dorian transformed from a member of the idle rich to an aspiring young model.
  • In 2006, a Czech musical based on the novel premiered in Prague.
  • A musical adaptation of the book by young theatre company Kangaroo Court ran at the Tabard Theatre, Chiswick in 2008. The updated version centres on celebrity obsession and excesses.
  • Dorian the Remarkable Mister Gray: A Portrait in Music, is a stage musical with music, lyrics, and book by Randy Bowser. The work had its premiere at Pentacle Theatre in Salem, Oregon, in 2008. A Russian version is being produced in Moscow, at The Stas Namin Cente.
  • In January 2009, Dorian Gray was adapted and directed by Linnie Reedman, with music by Joe Evans. Produced by Ruby In The Dust, the show returned to the Leicester Square Theatre on 26 June 2009, and again re-staged in March 2010 under the title of The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray.
  • An operatic version was created by Lowell Liebermann. Liebermann stated that "the book made an impression on as no other book has yet done". Premiered at the Monte Carlo Opera in 1996.
  • In February 2013, Dorian Gray was adapted into a musical by Callum Nicholls, a postgraduate composer at Cardiff University School of Music, and was performed by the school's students in Cardiff University Concert Hall.
  • In 2016, CJeS Culture staged a Korean musical adaptation, scripted by Cho Yong-shin and composed by Kim Moon-jeong, with Kim Junsu playing the titular role.
  • In the summer of 2017, an adaptation by Christopher Dayett and Kevin Mucchetti debuted at the New York Musical Theater Festival.
  • In 2024, a Lithuanian student opera, adapted by students of the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Art and based on the novel, premiered in Vilnius.

Plays

Dance