Posted: 1/12/23 at 2:04pm
Are we only getting one show this summer? And it's ANOTHER Hamlet? Whew, this is unexciting news. https://playbill.com/article/ato-blankson-wood-will-star-in-hamlet-for-61st-season-of-free-shakespeare-in-the-park
Posted: 1/12/23 at 2:10pm
And it's ANOTHER Kenny Leon-helmed production?
There's other directors. Do they know there's other directors?
Posted: 1/12/23 at 2:12pm
Originally, the plan was that they would lose the Delacorte for both Summer 2023 and Summer 2024 while the renovation happens. By doing one 9-week run this year, that probably means they can start demo in mid-August and get in 4 months of exterior work before winter, so they only lose one summer of the Delacorte. Plans are already underway for an offsite 2024 season.
But yes, yet another HAMLET is awfully boring when it doesn't feature a star in the lead role. I mean, imagine John David Washington instead of Ato, in a revival directed by Liliana Blaine-Cruz or George Wolfe??!
Updated On: 1/12/23 at 02:12 PM
Posted: 1/12/23 at 2:14pm
Posted: 1/12/23 at 3:11pm
I guess this is the fourth show Leon was talking about when he said he was working on 4 shows this season.
If we're only getting one show this year, I'm so disappointed it's Hamlet. I'd honestly have rather had a Public Works show or at least something more creative than Kenny Leon Hamlet.
Posted: 1/12/23 at 3:23pm
jkcohen626 said: "I guess this is the fourth show Leon was talking about when he said he was working on 4 shows this season."
Between June 2022 and June 2023 he'll have directed Topdog, Ohio State, Trading Places (Alliance), Hamlet (Public), A Soldier's Play (tour). He's also a co-producer on Some Like It Hot, directing a revival of Melvin Van Peebles' Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death, and he probably has other plays in development too.
Posted: 1/12/23 at 4:27pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "jkcohen626 said: "I guess this is the fourth show Leon was talking about when he said he was working on 4 shows this season."
Between June 2022 and June 2023 he'll have directed Topdog, Ohio State, Trading Places (Alliance), Hamlet (Public), A Soldier's Play (tour). He's also a co-producer on Some Like It Hot, directing a revival of Melvin Van Peebles' Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death, and he probably has other plays in development too."
FYI, I was referencing this thread: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1153356
I guess Trading Places may have been the 4th (or I guess 1st). But, whichever shows were the 4 he was thinking of, he has been EXTREMELY busy.
Posted: 1/12/23 at 11:39pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "jkcohen626 said: "I guess this is the fourth show Leon was talking about when he said he was working on 4 shows this season."
Between June 2022 and June 2023 he'll have directed Topdog, Ohio State, Trading Places (Alliance), Hamlet (Public), A Soldier's Play (tour). He's also a co-producer on Some Like It Hot, directing a revival of Melvin Van Peebles' Ain't Supposed To Die A Natural Death, and he probably has other plays in development too."
And don’t forget King James at MTC
Posted: 1/12/23 at 11:49pm
Look I get it, I'm pretty lukewarm on Kenny Leon, and even though Hamlet is one of my favorites, I'm not itching for another take on it.
But seriously?! You guys are shrugging off Ato Blankson-Wood just like that?! He's a super exciting rising talent, and this is a fantastic role for him.
John David Washington does not feel like a Hamlet to me at all...
Updated On: 1/12/23 at 11:49 PM
Posted: 1/13/23 at 9:30am
I'd rather see Hamlet get trotted out again than yet another revival of Midsummer or Twelfth Night. It's been 15 years, so...why not?
It is a shame they're not doing two shows this year but seeing how theaters across the country are struggling it should be expected.
"I WANT STARS!!!" is so childish.
Posted: 1/13/23 at 10:33am
I'm so tired to Kenny Leon, especially after his poorly directed production of OHIO STATE MURDERS. I thought his work on TOPDOG was fine, mostly for the acting, but that he also didn't fully get the play. I wish they'd gone with someone like Lileana Blain-Cruz who could put a unique spin on things. With Kenny, you already know what you're going to get.
Posted: 1/13/23 at 11:00am
LarryD2 said: "I'm so tired to Kenny Leon, especially after his poorly directed production of OHIO STATE MURDERS. I thought his work on TOPDOG was fine, mostly for the acting, but that he also didn't fully get the play. I wish they'd gone with someone like Lileana Blain-Cruz who could put a unique spin on things. With Kenny, you already know what you're going to get."
The things I would do to see Lileana Blaine-Cruz get to play at the Delacorte!
Posted: 1/13/23 at 11:08am
verywellthensigh said: "I'd rather see Hamlet get trotted out again than yet another revival of Midsummer or Twelfth Night. It's been 15 years, so...why not?"
Think we're all complaining about the number of Hamlets to have played NYC in the intervening years since the last Park production. Thomas Ostermeier’s production at BAM (November 2022), Robert Icke's production at Park Ave Armory (Summer 2022), Ruth Negga at St. Ann's (Winter 2020), Oscar Isaac/Sam Gold at the Public (2017), Bedlam Hamlet (2013), filmed Hamlets (Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott), riffs on Hamlet (Bernhardt/Hamlet, Fat Ham), the Met Opera's Hamlet...etc.
Posted: 1/16/23 at 10:37pm
It's too bad they're not doing a comedy which they've had a much better track record with lately...
Posted: 2/1/23 at 7:49pm
With the exception of Merry Wives Of Windsor in 2020, I haven't seen anything in the park that I'd say was good. They often dilute the plays with so much contemporary messaging and so on the nose that it sucks any importance or joy out of Shakespeare. It's like they're saying the audience is too dumb to understand the plays. It's why I just can't go there anymore.
