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After taking this summer off for renovations to the open-air Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Public Theater's cherished annual series Shakespeare in the Park will return in 2025 with Twelfth Night, one of the Bard's most popular plays. And no shortage of stars will shine their light on this free outdoor production: The cast will be led by Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, Peter Dinklage and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Saheem Ali, who holds the title of Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director at the Public and who directed the 2021 show Merry Wives at Shakespeare in the Park, will helm the production. Nyong'o will play Viola, a shipwrecked maiden who disguises herself as a boy to serve the man she loves, Orsino, who dispatches her to court the wealthy and beautiful noblewoman Olivia (Oh) on his behalf, only for Olivia to fall for the boy that Viola is pretending to be—who is not to be confused, but inevitably is confused, with Viola's twin brother, whom she closely resembles and whom she falsely believes to be dead. Comedic hijinx ensue, along with lovely verse. Dinklage will costar as Olivia's pompous major domo, Malvolio, who harbors secret romantic designs on his mistress; Ferguson will be Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a hapless fop who also fancies the well-favored Olivia.
The Public's summer series has offered free stagings of Shakespeare plays since 1962, except for this summer and the pandemic summer of 2020. If you don't want to wait a year to see alfresco accounts of Elizabethan classics, fear no more: You can tide yourself over with one of New York's several other free outdoor theater options—including the Classical Theatre of Harlem's fantastical take on A Midsummer Night's Dream, which plays uptown at Marcus Garvey Park through July 28, and even two productions of Twelfth Night. (We told you it was popular!)
Along with today's casting news, the Public has released several artist's renderings of the renovated Delacorte. Here is another one. See you at Central Park next year!
