2017 Shakespeare in the Park

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 2:26pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Annaleigh-Ashford-Danny-Burstein-Stephen-Adly-Guirgis-Nikki-M-James-and-More-to-Channel-the-Bard-for-2017-Shakespeare-in-the-Park-Season-20170404

[BroadwayBeebe]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 2:30pm

Midsummer just became MUST SEE for me! I love Danny and I can't wait to see him in this part. 

[Jshan05]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 2:33pm

ANNALEIGH! YES! Inspired choices all around.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 2:45pm

Elizabeth Marvel as Marc Anthony! Head...blown....

[little_sally]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 2:45pm

BroadwayBeebe said: "Midsummer just became MUST SEE for me! I love Danny and I can't wait to see him in this part. 

 

I just came here to say the same thing!

 

[Felm_heart]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 3:01pm

Kristine Nielsen as Puck! I'm so there! Thrilled to see Corey Stoll and Elizabeth Marvel as well.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 3:03pm

Super excited for Midsummer!! Ashford and Burstein will be perfect in their roles.

[M.O.A.I.]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 3:07pm

One can only imagine even bigger star casting to come for Oberon and Titania.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 3:24pm

Terrific casts as a whole, but I am so here for Marvel and Nielsen! Wow. 

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 4:44pm

Midsummer = Must-see!

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/4/17 at 10:47pm

Can't wait for Julius Caesar!!! Has anyone seen Gregg Henry perform? I see he will be Caesar. CAn't wait to see Marvel perform as Antony.

[M.O.A.I.]

Posted: 4/5/17 at 12:05am

Uh-oh... a quick Google reveals Gregg Henry bears a startling resemblance to a certain president.

[BakerWilliams]

Posted: 4/5/17 at 2:03am

^ I noticed that too. When will directors learn that politicized Shakespeare simply isn't interesting?

[M.O.A.I.]

Posted: 4/5/17 at 2:18am

I don't necessarily have a problem with politicizing Shakespeare per se, and this play especially is inherently political. But the tension in Julius Caesar comes from the audience's moral ambivalence toward both Caesar and the conspirators - one should feel uncertain who to side with. Casting Caesar as a direct corollary for Trump may reflect the present times and bring a rawness and energy to the show, who knows? But it'll almost certainly end the more interesting arguments the play normally poses.

Updated On: 4/5/17 at 02:18 AM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/5/17 at 7:05am

I studied JULIUS CAESAR in a grad school seminar taught by Oskar Eustis and saw his full production of the play a few years later at the Mark Taper Forum. (As most know, Oskar now heads the Public, but will be directing JC this summer.)

Trust me, Oskar REALLY knows the play and has a brilliant understanding of what the play says about the intersection of politics and public relations. His production at the Forum is burned in my memory and his take on the play can only be even more relevant today. Nobody should miss it, whether or not it is cast with stars. 

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:27am

I saw the final dress of JC last night. It's one of my personal favorites that I've seen at Shakespeare in The Park, out of the ten or so productions I've been to there. I'll keep this spoiler free until pictures are released and performances have officially started, but it's a very good production with a really terrific cast, particularly Henry, Marvel, and Stoll. There's no intermission for this one, and it came in at two hours and four minutes last night. I didn't catch any moments that I would have changed in it, so I don't really see that running time changing much.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:30am

I was also there last night and my thoughts are not at all in accord. I will wait to share them once performances properly begin tomorrow night.

I will say that this production will probably cause a stir.

Updated On: 5/22/17 at 10:30 AM

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:39am

Kad said: "I will say that this production will probably cause a stir."

I think no matter what, we're going to agree on that much. It absolutely will.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:41am

Between Kad and Ksilver's posts, this production just went from "exciting" to "must see." Highly divisive shows always excite me. 

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 10:58am

Scandal basically made Gregg Henry Trump during their election last year. He is very good at playing a reprehensible villain 

Updated On: 5/22/17 at 10:58 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:25am

"Highly divisive" is putting it mildly.

Updated On: 5/22/17 at 11:25 AM

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/22/17 at 11:40am

Was also there last night with Kad. I feel really upset that this production exists and I will also be happy to share my thoughts once performances begin tomorrow, but I hope something drastic changes ASAP during previews.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 1:21am

So now that this thing is officially before the public; what' are the opinions?

[wonkit]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 2:09am

The other site has a couple of comments that gave me a sense of this production's concept. I am so tired of everything in life being about our politics right now. I'll pass.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/24/17 at 9:41am

This was a real bummer for me. I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Marvel and Corey Stoll and I've always been intrigued by the moral complexity of Caesar as a play. This production wastes all of that and then some by bending itself into Oskar Eustis's morally detestable "concept." This is not Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR. It's Eustis's DONALD TRUMP. Yep. Down to the stupid combover and the Slovenian wife and the gilt bathtub. He even grabs a p*ssy and mocks a reporter. It doesn't get more eye-roll-inducing than that. Oh no wait! It does! But I don't want to spoil any of that for you sad souls who want to subject yourselves to this kind of Liberal back-patting propaganda. And I AM Liberal!

The biggest reason this production fails so spectacularly is that CAESAR is, arguably, not about him at all. It's Brutus's story. But the concept leaves no room for any ambiguity in anyone's actions. Caesar is terrible and must be overthrown, without question. But then he dies, and the concept completely falls apart. Suddenly the play becomes not about Trump, but about police brutality? By about halfway through the show, you entirely forget Brutus, Cassius, and Mark Anthony are there because everything they're saying is bent so out of shape to fit the concept, it's as if they're doing another play entirely.

I had to go to the bathroom about 15 minutes before the end and could have gone back to my seat, but decided it wasn't worth it. I had seen everything I needed to see: a play directed with such an irresponsible, heavy-handed agenda, it could have been staged by a pretentious undergrad. Even the physical staging is hideous, with construction site walls and giant half-arches and everything directed almost exclusively to the center of the audience.

I'm fine with making Shakespeare topical. He was a remarkably prescient playwright and there's so much in his texts to dig into that applies to our present. But it's an insult to our collective intelligence to not let us make those connections ourselves. We don't need to see Caesar literally as Trump to know that men with dictatorial tendencies have an air of the Donald. Plus, there's something about seeing your sitting President murdered on stage that doesn't sit right, no matter how you feel about him.

Updated On: 5/24/17 at 09:41 AM