Public Theater Teases First 2013 Shakespeare in the Park Show!

[FindingNamo]

"Delicious"? Sounds like Titus Andronicus to me.

[somethingwicked]

This makes me think the Timbers/Friedman LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST musical could be the first show instead of the second, since the play is a comedy and has been previously adapted by both Gilbert and Sullivan as PRINCESS IDA and Nicolas Nabokov as an opera.

COMEDY OF ERRORS (which they haven't done in a while) has also been adapted as a musical more than once.

[lull89]

There are, according to Wikipedia, 3 musical adaptations of Comedy of Errors, "The Boys from Syracuse," "Oh, Brother!" and "The Bomb-itty of Errors."

[little_sally]

Yeah, it's probably Comedy of Errors.

[bjh2114]

I doubt it's LLL since it's neither delicious nor much of a surprise since it was already known to be happening by several people.

[JayG 2]

Why are we assuming it's a Shakespeare?

[bjh2114]

Because the first show fo the season in the park is almost always Shakespeare. You can almost count the number of times the first show was not Shakespeare on one hand. The last time the first show wasn't Shakespeare was 14 years ago in 1998 (The Skin of Our Teeth). 16 years before that was 1982 (Don Juan). Before that, 1980 (The Pirates of Penzance). 1977 (The Threepenny Opera). 1972 (Ti-Jean and His Brothers). 1969 (Peer Gynt).

So that makes 6 times in the 50 year history of Shakespeare in the Park that the first show was not Shakespeare.

[GavestonPS]

When was the last time a non-Shakespearean comedy was performed in the park? I can't even recall one.

CORIOLANUS and OTHELLO were done in the mid-1980s. (I'm not saying those were the last non-comedies; they were just ones I saw.)

I must admit it was difficult to sit in the heat all day for a ticket to a 4-hour tragedy. I think I left both productions at intermission because I had a mixture of exhaustion and dehydration.

[bjh2114]

Gaveston, I think you missed the point of that one...

The quote was NOT about Shakespearean non-comedies (a.k.a. tragedies like Coriolanus and Othello, as well as romances, histories, etc.), but rather about comedies that were by people other than Shakespeare. The answer to that question is that Moliere's Tartuffe was the last one, performed in 1999 after The Taming of the Shrew. Also, Drood obviously played there in 1985.

[somethingwicked]

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH was also done as a Shakespeare in the Park show back in 1998. I'd love for The Public to do that piece again someday, with Nina Arianda as Sabina and John Lithgow and Patricia Clarkson as Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus. It's so huge and zany that it can only really be done somewhere like the Delacourt.

Arianda would also be a killer Kate in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, though I have a feeling we're more likely to see Lily Rabe tackle that play in the future.

[GavestonPS]

Got it, bjh, thanks. There was also a discussion on the previous page about the dearth of Shakespearean tragedies in the park and I conflated that with Kad's post. My bad.

***

On a different note (and this is ironic considering the discussion in another thread about comparing current shows to historic ones), I think the Meryl Streep/Raul Julia TAMING OF THE SHREW in the early 1980s was so nearly perfect, the entire play should be retired from the Delacorte repertoire. Sort of like they retire a great football player's number.

[theatreguy]

Here's the third clue from the Public:

"The first show has not been performed at the Delacorte in over 20 years. Be the first to see it in two decades!"

The Comedy of Errors is a comedy, has been adapted into two musicals (Boys from Syracuse and Oh Brother) and was last done in the park in 1992.

[frogs_fan85]

Hint #3:

The first show has not been performed at the Delacorte in over 20 years.

Be the first to see it in two decades!

[broadwaydevil]

It's a guarantee it's The Comedy of Errors now. All that's left is to figure out who it's starring.

[Kad]

Well, the lead roles are younger. So it's not a real veteran of the Public.

I bet Hamish Linklater will be in it.

[somethingwicked]

Hamish Linklater, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Michael Urie, and Carson Elrod would be inspired casting as the central foursome in COMEDY OF ERRORS, and this being the first show of the summer would mean Ferguson would be available on his MODERN FAMILY hiatus.