RIALTO CHATTER: Two MERCHANTs to Play New York in 2011?

The New York Times has announced that The Public Theater is actively working on a Broadway transfer of its production of Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino, now playing at the Delacorte Theater.  That production is scheduled to close August 1. The Public's Executive Director Andrew Hamingston tells the Times that a transfer is dependant upon the film and television filming conflicts amongst several of the cast members, including Lily Rabe, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Hamish Linklater.

A transfer would come as little surprise, as the production is generating a response reminiscent of the Public's Hair, which went on to win the 2009 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

Merchant, directed by Daniel Sullivan, began performances for Shakespeare in the Park on Saturday, June 12, and is running in rep with A Winter's Tale, directed by Michael Greif.

The Merchant of Venice features Happy Anderson, Gerry Bamman, Francois Battiste, Liza J. Bennett, Tyler Caffall, Cary Donaldson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Luke Forbes, Bryce Gill, Shalita Grant, Jade Hawk, Bill Heck, Tia James, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Byron Jennings, Kelsey Kurz, Heather Lind, Hamish Linklater, BrIan MacDonald, Dorien Makhloghi, Jesse L. Martin, Nyambi Nyambi, Al Pacino, Lily Rabe, Matthew Rauch, Joe Short, Richard Topol and Max Wright.

Tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are free and are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park at 1 p.m. the day of the show. This summer, The Public Theater will again offer free tickets through Virtual Ticketing, available at www.shakespeareinthepark.org.

While a Broadway transfer of the Public's production of Merchant remains up in the air, it seems that Theater for a New Audience will in fact be resurrecting their production of Shakespeare's drama, starring F. Murray Abraham as Shylock and directed by Darko Tresnjak in 2011.  The production, which ran in 2007, will return to New York at Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts for a two week run begining February 27, 2011.

Theater for a New Audience will additionally produce Macbeth starring John Douglas Thompson, directed by Arin Arbus, that will play The Duke on 42nd Street beginning March 12, 2011. For tickets and more information on Theater for a New Audience, visit http://www.tfana.org.

To read the full report in the New York Times about the upcoming Merchant productions, click here.

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