shakespeare in the park

Since moving to the city I have always heard of Shakespeare in the Park but never took advantage of the free tickets to see a play in action. The deal is, you stand in line the morning of the performance and tickets are distributed first come first serve. This year Anne Hathaway played Viola in Twelfth Night and because of all of the amazing reviews, and the fact that it was the final weekend, those interested in attending the free event had to stand in line a little longer to get tickets.

Some of my wonderful friends insisted on attending and had to sleep in the park to get tickets for Friday's performance (read about Taylor's experience) and lucky me, a few of their husbands weren't able to attend, so I was invited to go in their place. Ironically, I was going to stand in line the next morning (not knowing that you had to stand in line overnight to get tickets) and was so excited when I got the call to go.

Other than the fact that Anne Hathaway was the lead, I knew nothing about the play but read up on the plot before going. One of the girls said that the movie She's the Man was based on the play and after realizing this we knew what it was about. Isn't it sad that we new nothing about this famous play, but thanks to Hollywood's remakes we knew what it was about?

The Delacorte Theater was the perfect setting for the play. A quaint little open air theater in the heart of Central Park with the Belvedere Castle in the background. It was a nice cool evening and we were very anxious for the play to begin. Before starting a few of the girls spotted David Schwimmer and we were able to spy on him through the binoculars and there were rumors that Neil Patrick Harris was also in attendance - we love our celebrities!



The play was hilarious! I was a little nervous going into it because I don't always fully understand Shakespeare but the actors did such an amazing job that it made it very easy to follow. I didn't know Twelfth Night was a comedy but I am so glad it was, I laughed through the entire performance.



I can not tell you how amazing Anne was - not only was she stunning but she did an amazing job playing a boy and she had a beautiful singing voice. Besides Anne we recognized a few of the other actors, Julie White (Scartlett Johansson's mom in The Nanny Diaries) and Audra McDonald (one of the doctors in Private Practice)it was fun to see so many actors we recognized and they all did a wonderful job.



After the show I was trying to hail a cab and Julie White walked up and started talking to a bunch of us that were congratulating her on her performance and then she stepped in front of me, raised her arm and got the cab that should have been mine. I wasn't too upset, had it been anyone else I would have complained:)

I loved everything about the evening and I have to say, Shakespeare in the Park is climbing the charts as one of my favorite NY events. So thank you for sleeping in the park ladies - I had such a great time!