Shakespeare in the Park

A week ago today, Alicia and I went to Central Park at 9am. The goal: Shakespeare in the Park. Every year, a production crew puts on free shows in a theater in the middle of Central Park. Free means the tickets cost nothing money wise, however, tickets are distributed at 1pm for the show that night around 8pm. By 1pm, the line is huge. To guarantee tickets, the internet recommended arriving between 8-10am. When we arrived at 9am, the line was already at least 1-2 hundred people long. Luckily, the theater holds at least a thousand people (1700 is my vague recollection). Alicia had the day off, and I had studying to do, so we brought fold up chairs and books.

The line was friendly, but formal. There was staff there to supervise it to prevent line cutting, etc. You were allowed to leave for 5-1o minutes for the bathroom, but nothing more. Here's a few shots:

Needless to say, we got tickets. The show was Hamlet, and it was great. Sam Waterston (Jack McCoy in Law & Order) played Polonius, which was exciting. I didn't recognize any other actors, but Alicia did. She's already posted about it on her blog, so feel free to read her thoughts there. I had read Hamlet in High School, but didn't enjoy it. This play made me finally understand what was great about it. What I was always missing was Hamlet's motives. I couldn't quite grasp them, but the actor playing Hamlet did a great job getting them across. Otherwise, the show was a bit long (3 1/2 hours), but I didn't mind after about 20 minutes in, when I had gotten used to the Shakespearean dialogue. Plus, it was very bloody at the end, which was cool to see on stage.

The biggest bonus came that weekend. Little did Alicia and I know, we saw the show on the second night. We saw it on Thursday, June 19th, and all that weekend we read reviews. I felt so hip and in the know.