However, what New Yorker doesn’t jump at the opportunity of free anything. “Ay there’s the rub!” What has discouraged me from attending Shakespeare in the Park for years has been the notorious horror that revolves around obtaining tickets. Every post I read about Shakespeare in the Park chronicles the brave adventures of theater aficionados camping out the night before outside the park (because in the city that never sleeps, even Central Park closes at 1am) or waking up at ungodly hours to get on line. Being the typical teenager that I am, this was a big turn-off.
I was planning on passing off the opportunity to see Shakespeare in the Park again this year, until I found out that the Public Theater was producing “Much Ado About Nothing.” This immediately caught my attention for I read the play during my freshman year of high school and actually missed out on the opportunity to see it performed live by my school’s theater troupe because I was too busy puking in the emergency room (that’s another story). So I recruited my cousin and a friend and decided that this was the year that I would finally brave the Shakespeare in the Park line.
For someone with very little patience, I was totally concerned about waiting for three hours in Central Park and getting bored. I prepared myself for the worst. The night before, I packed a bag as if preparing for the apocalypse: water bottle, sunscreen, sunglasses, sweater, snacks, notebook, book to read, Advil, phone charger, etc. Stupidly, I didn’t consider that I would have to drag my big bag of stuff all around Manhattan for the rest of the day.
When we arrived at Central Park, we were completely stunned by the line. It seemed to wrap around the theater and it took a good five minutes for us to find the end of it. We finally settled on a picnic blanket in front of a large rock. From our research, we immediately recognized that this was the “50/50 rock.” Apparently, if you are at this rock, you have a 50/50 shot of getting tickets. With our luck, of course we were right at the 50/50 rock. After some consideration of whether we wanted to wait out the three hours, we decided it was worth it considering we all got up early for this opportunity.
The wait passed by a lot faster than I expected. We were fortunate that the weather held up nicely. There was plenty of sunshine and the temperature stayed consistently below 80 degrees. We played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal, checked Facebook on our phone, and it was soon noon. As the line inched forward, I constantly worried that tickets would run out. The Delacorte sits 1,800 viewers, but it felt truly possible that there were over that amount of people in front of us. We continued to approach the box office, still with high hopes and praying that our luck would not run out. It was a movie-perfect moment when we finally got the tickets in our hand. All the stress and worry disappeared and everyone around us seemed so happy to be blessed with these free tickets.
The show itself was well worth the three-hour wait. It starred Tony nominee Lily Rabe as Beatrice, film and TV actor Hamish Linklater as Benedick, and Tony award winning Broadway baritone Brian Stokes Mitchell as Don Pedro. The stage was beautifully decked out as an Italian villa and garden, which the cast moved about like the set of a movie. The play translated humorously to the stage with all of the actor’s excellent comedic timing and the energy and enthusiasm of the audience.
While we truly enjoyed the performance that night and as well as the three-hour wait for tickets, I do suspect that we were particularly lucky. Our successful Shakespeare in the Park experience was probably facilitated by the lack of big billing actors. Though we recognized some of the actors in the play and all the actors were brilliant, none really had the fame and popularity as Anne Hathaway or Al Pacino, which otherwise might have prompted overnight campouts just for tickets. We also caught the performance during the beginning of its run, only a few days after opening night.
Granted, Shakespeare in the Park is not for everybody. As I overheard one lady mention to her friend, this experience is for those who have “more time than money.” You need to be prepared for disappointment and realize that no matter how early you get there, there is always the possibility that you might not get tickets. Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable experience and a fantastic way to hang out with friends, while enjoying free theater in the city.