The Importance Of Casting Earnest

A new Importance Of Being Earnest is opening on Broadway this January.  Fine with me.  But the casting is odd.

The big star is Brian Bedford, playing Lady Bracknell.  It's not unheard of to cast the part with a man, but should it be the biggest name by far?  The other big names are Dana Ivey and Paxton Whitehead (whom I've seen live before--he's always funny) as Prism and Chasuble.  These are secondary roles, but they're billed above the rest.

In fact, I've never heard of the others.  Won't this unbalance the play?  Say what you like, Jack, Algy, Gwendolyn and Cecily are the leads.  If we focus on others, there'll be something missing.