Shakespeare in the Park (8/19/18)

Yes, the famous one. I finally decided to do the full-on Shakespeare in the Park experience, so I got to Central Park around 8:20am on Sunday. The line was not too long, so I plopped myself down under the overhang at the Delacorte Theater (a good thing, because it was drizzly and rainy) and took out my book to read. (Tickets are distributed beginning at noon and I came prepared with book, snacks, and water.) Some of the folks in line seemed to be regulars, and at one point someone mentioned that they were glad they weren’t in the other line. “Other line?” Oops, I actually asked it out loud. Apparently I was in the seniors line. Being a savvy New Yorker, I inquired as to what the Public Theater considered a senior. The answer was sixty-five and up, and they checked ID. Drat. Even though it was my birthday, I was only turning sixty-four. So after spending close to forty-five minutes in the wrong line, I joined the much longer ‘regular folks’ line. Long (really long) story short, I was in the select group that did get tickets, and I was out of the park by a little before 1pm.

I returned in the evening for my third al fresco Twelfth Night of this summer. Entering the amphitheater, I noticed a big crowd onstage already. And then I saw audience members joining them. It was closing night of the production so I thought maybe this was something special but I learned that this happened at every performance.

It seems that this Twelfth Night was a musical adaptation that had been presented a while back as part of the Public Works program that uses local community actors, dancers, and singers as parts of a very large ensemble. It’s a worthy project but I didn’t know about that aspect of this adaptation ahead of time.

And quite an adaptation it was. Most of the dialogue was Shakespeare’s but the music was all new, with lyrics that were decidedly not Shakespeare’s. Duke Orsino’s ‘If music be the food of love’ became an all-singing, all-dancing opening number. It was nice but it seemed out of place to me. All of the principals did a good job—although, oddly, the twins (Viola/Cesario and Sebastian) were nowhere near the same height. You’d think Olivia, or some of the others, might notice something like that when seeing ‘Sebastian’ a couple of times in quick succession. Malvolio had two or three nice music hall/vaudeville songs that were the hit of the evening, as far as I was concerned. Alas, the Playbill did not include a list of musical numbers, so I can’t give you any titles.

The plot was fairly clear, even with the addition of large crowd scenes, but the juxtaposition of Shakespeare versus non-Shakespeare sections was jarring pretty much every time. That and the lack of the iconic ending—‘That’s all one, our play is done’—were my most unhappy quibbles. However, my inaugural Shakespeare in the Park experience was a good one and I’ll most likely do it again in the future.

That’s all one, my post is done / and I’ll strive to please you every day! (Well, every post, at least.)

ConcertMeister