A Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream in New York's Shakespeare in the Park

Last night, thousands of people turned out to see "Shakespeare in the Park's" performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park.

Tickets for the performance were free on a first-come, first-served basis. Hopefuls began standing in line in the late summer day's heat at 1:00 p.m. Once the theatre was sold out, or in this case "doled out," some die-hard optimists stood in line a second time hoping for second-chance tickets.

Shortly after 8:00 p.m. a nymph of a fairy dangling from a huge forest tree drew the audience into Shakespeare's magical fantasy. Outside hopefuls still entertained a fantasy of their own.

Shakespeare's original characters were portrayed by a cast of gifted actors with such notables as: Martha Plimpton (Helena), Jay O. Sanders (Nick Bottom), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Francis Flute), Keith David (Oberon), and Laila Robins (Titania). They conveyed Shakespeare's tale of two sets of mortal crossed lovers who are watched and bewitched by invisible fairies.

The soft singing voices of child fairies sweetened the air. Stage props such as smoke, thunder, lightning, and fairy dust captivated the audience. And most of all humor, outrageous humor that spawned spontaneous laughter which could not be held back entertained people of all ages.

Applause and laughter resounded throughout the theatre right up until the final act at 11:00 p.m. Many audience members gave the performance a standing ovation indicating that it was well-worth the wait for a ticket.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" opened on August 8, 2007 and the last performance is Sunday, September 09, 2007.

The Public Theatre has been offering performances of Shakespeare's works to the public since 1962. They entertain about 80,000 people per summer and overall have performed over 80 productions seen by more than 4 million people.

William Shakespeare died in 1616, almost 400 years ago.

Sources:

http://www.publictheater.org/support/summer.php

Playbill