Steve Guttenberg and fellow cast members are ready to rock your world with some free theater in Riverside Park.
It’s almost free theater season in Central and Riverside Parks and there are some exciting offerings this year — including Sam Waterston and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in The Tempest and Steve Guttenberg in Henry IV, Part 1.
Shakespeare in the Park starts on May 27, and The Tempest runs until July 7. Sam Waterston will play Prospero. Learn more about the cast and show here. Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater will return in late July (after appearing in Much Ado About Nothing last year) to perform Cymbeline, a Shakespearean fairy tale.
The Hudson Warehouse will be putting on Henry IV at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at 89th street in Riverside Park starting on June 4. Steve Guttenberg (Of Police Academy and Cocoon fame, and a UWS resident! The picture at right is from his heartthrob days.) plays the Earl of Northumberland while Paul Singleton plays Henry. The play runs Thursdays-Sundays at 6:30 p.m. until June 28, and it’s free.
Image courtesy of Hudson Warehouse.
It does sound wonderful EXCEPT for the simple fact that is impossible to get FREE seats at Shakespeare in the Park! Most of the seats are reserved in advance for persons who pay a lot for tickets. The seats are NOT as they used to be – first come, etc.
It’s a problem for those unfortunates like those who want to expose their children to Shakespeare and the aged. Neither of these groups are able to stand on long lines for several hours in order to gain access to what’s left of “free” seats.
I hope. hope,hope the 89th St venue doesn’t work that way.
For those that have a computer you can sign up for the Public Theater’s Virtual On Line Ticketing….its very easy. No more standing on long lines in Central Park all day.
JSF,
My daughter and I waited in line last summer, and it was a terrific experience-not impossible-not even that difficult. We took beach chairs and snacks and a good book and joined the hundreds of other theater lovers- including people of virtually all ages. We were about 200th+ in line having made a common mistake of lining up inside the park, at the theater early in the morning. The line actually forms at the entry into the park at CPW and 82nd street*, and does not enter until 6AM when the park opens. We went from 20th in line to about 220th+. No matter as the tickets are handed out randomly. We found ourselves sitting front row center watching a fantastic production starring Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater amongst others. No matter your age or infirmity, I strongly recommend this experience. Also the Hudson Warehouse productions are “first come- first get best seats on the steps to the monument”. better to sit closer (lower on the stairs) to the action for people who are hard of hearing. There are also a few spots for folding chairs. This is a great accessible theater experience, where the production values improve every year. I saw the two productions last summer and they were both first rate-very well directed and acted. So JSF, my recommendation to you is give it a try-you might be pleasantly surprised as we were.
*a note to the Public Theater-you might post a sign near the Delacorte letting people know to line up “outside” of the park.
I second jsf’s comment. Some, perhaps many, of us just don’t have the luxury of having a day to sit at the park in hopes of getting tickets.
Years ago, as jsf suggests, one could show up, maybe a little early, and get tickets. (I, and friends, did that any number of times.) I’m sure that’s what Joe Papp intended as theater for the people.
Now, however, one needs to invest either a day — starting, as JC shows, practically at pre-dawn — or a lot of money for a “contribution” buying a ticket. As much as JC enjoyed her leisurely day in the park with her daughter, many of us simply don’t have that option — I, at least, have to work to pay for the privilege of continuing to live where I’ve lived for the past 40 years (since back when you *could* show up and get tickets).
Theater for the people? Not any more.
The Hudson Warehouse performances are the best little secret on the Upper West Side (all of New York?) I remember stumbling upon them a few years ago. Definitely hard to hear the actors, but they are RIGHT THERE with you.
A terrific experience everyone should try out!