NEW YORK – A starry group of veteran Public Theater actors — including Lupita Nyong’o, Peter Dinklage, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sandra Oh — will help reopen the newly revitalized Delacorte Theater in Central Park in a free production of “Twelfth Night.”
“To say that we are reopening this next phase of the Public and we’re doing it with these four performers who have history and roots at the Public Theater just felt like an extraordinary way to imagine the production,” said Saheem Ali, the Public’s associate artistic director and resident director.
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Ali picked William Shakespeare's romantic comedy “Twelfth Night” to christen the return in the summer of 2025, featuring immigrant characters among the shifting identities and revenge plots.
“I wanted something with life and joy and vitality that celebrated the city of New York,” he said. “The different levels of identity that the play operates under — I’ve always been fascinated by that.”
There's also a personal reason: “Twelfth Night” in Central Park was the first show Ali saw in New York when he first arrived from Boston in 2002. It was a Monday — the day Broadway traditionally is dark — so he went to Central Park.
“I stood in line. It was late in the day. I got one of the last tickets, and that was the first show that I ever saw in New York,” he recalled.
While “Modern Family” star Ferguson has performed in Central Park before, the revival will mark the Delacorte debuts of Nyong’o, Dinklage and Oh.
The Public’s free Shakespeare in the Park program is a beloved staple for both actors and audience, a place where you can hear a line like “My stars shine darkly over me,” delivered by an actor by moonlight.
“The best thing about that space is just being outdoors and being able to see the backdrop,” says Ali. “So, we’re preserving all the things about it that are magical in terms of the audience experience and making sure that the insides are as in top shape as they could be.”
The Delacorte opened in Central Park on June 18, 1962, with “The Merchant of Venice” starring George C. Scott. Since then, there have been usually two productions each summer, featuring stars such as James Earl Jones, Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Anne Hathaway.
“It’s at the heart of what we do at the Public,” said Ali, who earned a Tony Award nomination for directing “Fat Ham” on Broadway in 2023. “Once a year, you get to see the highest caliber of theater performers and designers and storytellers, and you get to do it for free.”
The $78 million venue overhaul is the first significant remodeling since the venue’s initial development. It will keep the theater’s current footprint and 1,872 seats, but upgrade them and the backstage, add durable and sustainable materials, improve the lights and audio systems, allow access for wheelchairs and reposition bathrooms. The changes could extend the season's programing into the fall.
Ali calls it a “gut renovation,” and one long overdue. “It’s been kind of duct tape and spit holding it together. So, it’s really extraordinary to have this opportunity to just really anchor it for the next few decades.”
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits