Review Roundup: Public Works' THE TEMPEST at the Delacorte Theater

Public Works’ The Tempest is running at The Delacorte Theater through Sunday, September 3 as part of Free Shakespeare in the Park.

Public Works enters its second decade by revisiting the play that launched the program, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In The Public’s decade-long tradition of bringing together a diverse ensemble of both professional and community members from all five boroughs of New York City, this Public Works production examines what it means to be isolated and how we find our way back to one another. With music and lyrics by Benjamin Velez and directed by Obie Award winner and Director of Public Works Laurie Woolery, this ambitious work of participatory theater explores the grief of being cut off from community, the desire for retribution, and the healing power of love.

Let's see what the critics thought. Read the reviews for The Tempest below.

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Sara Holdren, Vulture: To be fair, The Tempest as presented by Public Works is avowedly an adaptation. In fact, it’s a full-blown musical. With original music and lyrics by Benjamin Velez and choreography by Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Woolery’s Tempest still tells the story of ousted-duke–slash–sorcerer Prospero (the powerhouse singer and erstwhile Angelica Schuyler Renée Elise Goldsberry), but its tools are more crescendo and kick line than empty space and iambic pentameter. Some of Shakepeare’s text is preserved, but the production’s engine is its songs, and that engine is fueled by earnestness and schtick.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: This reordering subtly pushes an increasingly-voiced interpretation of Shakespeare’s late play as the story of European colonialism. (That’s the interpretation, for example, by Native American and Shakespeare-lover Madeline Sayet, as she explained last year in her solo show Where We Belong. She not only loved “The Tempest,” she identified with Caliban: “He’s indigenous. He’s me.”) The production is able to alter our perspective without changing the main plot of betrayal, revenge and forgiveness, nor the comic and romantic subplots.

Melissa Rose Bernardo, New York Stage Review: Still, there are enough, well, magical moments in this Tempest—many of which come courtesy of Goldsberry, who’s wonderfully cast as the benevolent, bitter Prospero. As the character entreats in the epilogue: “Now I want spirits to enforce, art to enchant.” It’s Shakespeare’s plea, but could be Public Works’ unofficial motto.

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Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

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