This is Not a Review of Twelfth Night

I think that, technically, I'm not supposed to review Shakespeare in the Park's star-studded Twelfth Night because the previews just started. But...I did see it fresh out of rehearsal on Wednesday night and greatly enjoyed it—as did Trapezia and many other attendees who laughed heartily at the play's many comic episodes—so I encourage you to go scurry over and see this production, which officially opens June 25 and runs until July 12.

As good as the production already is, I think there's room for improvement. These are preview performances, after all! Anyway, it's reasonable to expect the proceedings to improve as the actors develop their characterizations and delivery. But that's no reason to hold off until the ticket situation becomes unbearably competitive. See it now, get it over with, and then, if you're really into it, you can always try to see it again later.

If you can't get in the daily ticket line by, say, 10:30 am (what turned out to be the cut-off time on Wednesday), you can still get in the virtual line (which worked for me!) or even drop by in the late afternoon or evening and see if you can get a stand-by ticket. (Just remember: the stand-by line is "one ticket per person, with absolutely no cutting or place-keeping. It looked pretty encouraging around 6 pm on Wednesday night, but the situation will probably become more difficult moving into the summer.)

On a pseudo-scholarly note (possible spoilers follow), I've done some research that helped me appreciate how Shakespeare's wordplay extended to the use of anagrams in naming some of the work's characters. There's also a play on words that anticipated the Britney Spears ditty "If You Seek Amy" by centuries. On top of that, there's a famously puzzling riddle involving the letters M. O. A. I. I've whipped up my own "solution" to the riddle, but you'll have to check the comments for that potential spoiler.

Anne Hathaway News!

BAT favorite Anne Hathaway is to perform Viola this summer in Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night. Be prepared to camp out and get into fistfights over your place in the line: Her co-stars will include Audra McDonald, Raúl Esparza, and Michael Cumpsty, as reported in Wednesday's New York Times. So get ready for a lot of references to Mrs. Shakespeare.

But that's not all! Hathaway is now linked to Get Happy, a Weinstein Company stage and screen project based on a biography of Judy Garland.

Hathaway has great potential as a performer in musicals. Enticing rumors persist of Hathaway performing in a revival of Promises, Promises.

Lately she's been involved in Tim Burton's promising Alice in Wonderland.



Source (2:18)

More Shakespeare in the Park

For Hair in Central Park, click here. But for Hamlet at Fort Tryon Park, click here. I won't be seeing it myself, but it sure sounds good—so make haste to see it, as it closes this weekend! You'll make the rest of us jealous.