Friday, April 26, 2024
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: Laurie Woolery
Public Works’ Musical Adaptation of “As You Like It”: Free Shakespeare in the Park
The 60th anniversary of The Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park series was memorable. It opened with risk and ended with a reward. The first of the two productions for summer 2022 was Richard III, directed by Robert O'Hara and starring Danai Gurira in the title role. It seemed to be the summer of Richard III, and the choices made by The Public's version and other productions worldwide (notably in Canada and the UK) were the source of many conversations, press articles, and hot debates. In contrast, it's hard to imagine anything but praise for the delightful, exuberant modern musical
Mobile Unit’s THE TEMPEST at The Public Theater
The stormy start to May has served as a fitting setting for the debut of The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, that washed up on its home shores near Astor Place after a three-week, 17 stop tour to correction facilities, homeless shelters, libraries and community centers across all five boroughs of New York City. The Mobile Unit really puts the “public” in The Public Theater, whose prestigious productions continue to sell out, garner audience and critical praise and conquer both the commercial (anyone heard of a little historical musical about a dead politician called Hamilton?) and