Thursday, November 30, 2023
Though hurricanes, the stormy skies and the trail of destruction they bring raged across America at the tail end of summer, all was calm and serene as professional artists and community participants alike graced the Delacorte Theatre for one last time before 2025. The production was a jubilant musical take on Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest, as envisioned by Public Works, currently helmed by Lauire Wooley, featuring well-crafted, richly varied and genre-bending music and lyrics by Benjamin Velez and simple yet playful choreography by Tiffany Rea-Fisher. Ancestral spirits from Seneca Village and the Isle of Manahatta, the homeland of the
Tag: Delacorte Theater
Free Shakespeare in the Park’s HAMLET at The Delacorte Theater
If last year was “The Summer of Richard III,” with numerous productions worldwide and varying portrayals of the “poisonous bunch-backed toad,” including The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park version directed by Robert O’Hara (see my StageBiz review here), then 2023 is “The Tale of Two Hamlets.” Two Public Theater productions featuring the titular tragic prince were running simultaneously at the time of Free Shakespeare in the Park’s Hamlet’s opening, the second being James Ijames’ excellent, Pulitzer-Prize winning modern-day riff on the Hamlet tale, dubbed Fat Ham, which transferred to Broadway and closed July 2 after an extension (see
“Richard III” – Shakespeare in the Park
This summer, the Public Theater is celebrating the 60th season of Shakespeare in the Park, and it is one of the events that makes living in New York City a privilege. The first of the plays presented this year is the history play, "Richard III." Cards on the table right up front, "Richard III" is my favorite Shakespeare play, and the Wars of the Roses is a period in history I studied at some length. In short, I am an enthusiast, and readers deserve to know from whence these remarks come. Above all, this play is about power, its uses and mostly
Othello at the Delacorte Theater, Shakespeare in the Park
The story of Othello has always bothered me. Simply put, Othello has to be country-bumpkin gullible to fall victim to Iago's plotting – smitten and jealous or not. Chukwudi Iwuji, in the title role in the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, turned in such a performance that I could almost believe Othello is that naïve. I have seen Othello more times than I can honestly remember. This production, though, is beyond memorable, especially but not exclusively because of Iwuji's performance. Much of the play hinges on the performance of Iago, and Corey Stoll delivers the goods. He is both