The President of the United States...

My play My Fellow Americans opens next month as part of the Secret Theatre One-Act Festival, which means it's time to meet the President of the United States... Rebecca Ana Peña!

Okay, so Bec isn't actually President of the United States... yet... but she gets to play the president on stage beginning July 13th. If you can't make opening night, there will be additional performances on July 20th, July 27th, and August 3rd.

Bec is a Cuban American artist based in New York City. Most recently, she appeared in the evening of short plays East Side Stories, Actually at Metropolitan Playhouse. Some of her favorite credits include The Bacchae (The Classical Theatre of Harlem) and Times Square (The Civilians). She also appeared in the Ambie Award nominated film Skinner 1929.

The production is being directed by Rachael Langton, whose credits include A Shot Rang Out by Michael Hagins at Theatre Row; East Side Stories, Actually at Metropolitan Playhouse; Winter's Night by Neith Boyce and Woman's Honor by Susan Glaspell, as well as Graduation by Eugene Grygo, performed in the International Human Rights Festival.

If you haven't been out to the new Secret Theatre in Woodside, Queens, it's a wonderful venue, so be sure to check it out next month!

Cataracts and Hurricanoes!

Tuesday, I was supposed to see New York Classical Theatre Company's production of King Lear in Central Park. I was particularly excited because rather than doing the classic version by William Shakespeare, they promised they would be performing the happy ending by Nahum Tate!

Well, unfortunately, they called off the show due to weather. I had already walked down to the park, so I ended up getting drenched on the way home. Fortunately, the company offered to reschedule my reservation for a different date. I asked them to rebook me for Saturday, tonight.

Well, they got through quite a bit of the play this time, bur as Lear was calling out "You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout / Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!" the audience was feeling drops of rain start to come down on us. It wasn't too much, so the actors soldiered on. Gloucester got his eyes gouged out, and then the director made an announcement: The show was canceled. As I walked home, I got drenched yet again.

Is the third time a charm? Well, Lear didn't have much luck with his first two daughters, and then along came Cordelia... so... maybe?

I've made a reservation to see the show when it will be playing in Castle Clinton later this month. Come to think of it, the last time I saw New York Classical perform King Lear, it was also at Castle Clinton, but that was with the original ending. I want the happy ending, dang it!

New York Classical isn't the only company performing free Shakespeare in the parks this summer. Classical Theatre of Harlem is doing an adaptation of Richard III by Will Power called Seize the King, Greenhouse Ensemble is doing a production of Twelfth Night, and the Public Theater is doing Jocelyn Bioh's adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor. In addition, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot is doing Shakespeare's collaboration with John Fletcher, The Two Noble Kinsmen.

Outdoor theatre is always a challenge, but I'm hoping the rains let up so I can see at least some of these upcoming shows!

Budget Priorities

The COVID crisis has had profound effects on New York City, the state, and the nation. There is plenty the federal government could do to protect arts organizations, but with NYC looking into its budget for the coming year, it's time to talk about budget priorities for the city.

As an adjunct professor at City College, I have had to struggle to help my students adjust to online learning. The City University of New York is chronically underfunded, and New York City primary and secondary schools are in dire shape as well. Now, this virus has put additional strains on our educational institutions and our students.

Perhaps nothing is a better investment in our nation's future than spending on education. We need to be spending more money on education, not less, and every dollar cut from education probably leads to huge amounts of money we'll have to spend later on down the line. Already, employers are complaining about having to train graduates on things they should have learned in school, and I don't think there's any serious doubt that our current mass incarceration problem is fueled in part by inadequate educational opportunities.

Closely related to education are our public libraries. In the past, I have been a frequent user of multiple branches of the New York Public Library, including the Epiphany Branch, which (when it was open) provided a meeting space for a the Friends of Dickens New York. In addition to providing books, DVDs, and other resources, libraries provide lifelong learning opportunities and community events that are vital to public life. Yet the public has been cut off from our libraries during this current health crisis. In order to come back and provide these essential services in the future, libraries are going to need more funding, not less.

In spite of our current COVID intermission, the arts are what make New York City a vibrant place to live. Whether it's the free outdoor performances by the Public Theater and Classical Theatre of Harlem, or the many other programs offered throughout the city, the arts are why people come here, and they contribute to the social and economic vitality of New York. Sometimes, politicians see the arts as "extra" and "discretionary" while continuing to fund deadbeat cops who contribute nothing to our community and frequently abuse and harass us in our own neighborhoods. It is time for that to stop.

The New York Police Department currently has a budget of $6 billion, which is far more than it needs. In spite of the outrageous actions by certain police officers, I know that there are many good, honest cops out there who really do have our community's best interests at heart. However, we cannot turn a blind eye to the huge amount of waste, corruption, and abuse in the NYPD. Once upon a time, we had a few bad apples. We refused to get rid of them, and now the whole bunch is spoiled. Our refusal to reform the NYPD has left us with an agency that today serves nobody but itself.

Members of the city council have found $1 billion in the NYPD's budget that could be cut and reallocated to other programs. Honestly, while $1 billion sounds like a good start, I think that if they kept digging, they could find plenty more to cut, and not compromise the safety of New Yorkers one bit. As a matter of fact, we would probably be making New York safer, since many of the criminals who rob, beat, and murder us in this city often wear badges.

Unfortunately, the mayor has continued to support a bloated and corrupt NYPD that attacks peaceful protestors while allowing crimes committed by those within its own ranks to go completely unchecked. It's time to cut back the wasteful spending on policing and save the programs that actually make a positive difference in the lives of New Yorkers.

A Spirited Carol in Harlem

This weekend, I had a chance to see A Christmas Carol in Harlem, a delightful update of the classic Charles Dickens tale set in contemporary New York City.

A friend of mine from a local Dickens group went with me, and we were both impressed by the eerie quality of the ghosts. When Jacob Marley appears in the book, he passes right through a heavy door, and his body is transparent "so that Scrooge, observing him, and looking through his waistcoat, could see the two buttons on his coat behind."

How do you do that on stage? Well, during the 19th century they could use elaborate stage techniques like Pepper's Ghost, but that would never work in a space like Aaron Davis Hall, where The Classical Theatre of Harlem is staging the production in an intimate, three-quarter-round setting. Instead, projections designer Shawn Boyle has managed to create ghostly digital effects behind Steve Greenstein, who plays Marley, making an outline of the actor's face almost--but never quite--materialize on the backdrop. The effect is truly haunting.

My favorite spirit in the story is the Ghost of Christmas Past. The strange figure is "like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from view, and being diminished to a child's proportions." In my own two-person adaption of the story performed in Saratoga Springs, we had a hand puppet perform the role, which worked quite well. Again, with the audience on three sides of the action, this would be unlikely to go over well in CTH's production.

The solution they came up with was perfect. Eryn Barnes, who plays the Ghost of Christmas Past, is an astonishing acrobat who moves in some of the most uncanny ways you're likely to see on stage. Walking on her forearms and performing amazing kicks and flips without breaking a sweat, she manages to also say her lines as if her acrobatic feats are as natural to her as taking a stroll down a country lane. Costume designers Lex Liang and Margaret Goldrainer dress Barnes in a sleek 1970s style that immediately calls to mind the youth of our contemporary Scrooge, played movingly by Charles Bernard Murray.

Generally, it is much easier to represent the Ghost of Christmas Present, who is described by Dickens as "a jolly Giant, glorious to see; who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn." This is something we've all seen on stage countless times, but again, the CTH production comes up with an imaginative interpretation that is both faithful to Dickens's words and entirely original. Andrei Pierre plays the spirit with the help of a group of back-up dancers all dressed in the same shimmering color as his own clothes, making him appear as Dickens's jolly Giant, with the help of some splendid choreography by Tiffany Rea-Fisher.

The Ghost of Christmas Future is scary enough without needing to add much, so director Carl Cofield has opted to have him appear in the traditional black robe. The figure is still suitably mysterious, though, and the future sequence includes a number of tremendous performances, including that of Angela Polite (creator of the one-woman show MARY SPEAKS) as the spooky Clock Shop Lady.

This adaptation, penned by Shawn René Graham, condenses much of the story, combining Scrooge's nephew Fred with the character of Bob Cratchit (played by Jeffrey Rashad). Tiny Tim also becomes Tiny Timothia, played adorably by Emery Jones. Other fine performances are given by Reed Harris Butts, Gabrielle Djenné, Daniel Echevarria, Ure Egbuho, Paula Galloway, Kaden Jones, and Kenzie Ross.

Spirited music pervades the piece, directed by Kahlil X Daniel, who also looms over the stage as the Ghost of Christmas Future. Don't miss your chance to see the show before it vanishes on December 21st!

Charles Bernard Murray as Scrooge and Eryn Barnes as The Ghost of Christmas Past in Classical Theatre of Harlem's A Christmas Carol in Harlem -- photo by Jill Jones

The Season of the Carol

Thanksgiving is over, which means we now begin... the season of A Christmas Carol.

I wrote my own two-person adaptation of the Charles Dickens novella which was done by the Epiphany Theater Company in Saratoga Springs in 2007, but it is far from the only adaptation of the piece, and quite a few Carols will be in the New York area this season.

The first one I'll be seeing is A Christmas Carol in Harlem, which Classical Theatre of Harlem is doing December 4th through 21st in Aaron Davis Hall on the campus of City College, located of course in Harlem. This updated version of the story has been adapted by Shawn René Graham to include original and classic holiday carols tinged with gospel, hip-hop, pop, and R&B influences.

On Saturday, December 7th, the Friends of Dickens New York will be welcoming U.K.-based actor Dominic Gerrard as he gives his one-man rendition of A Christmas Carol at the Epiphany Branch of the New York Public Library. The performance is free and open to the public. It begins at 1:00 pm, and will be followed by a meeting of the Friends of Dickens (which I will be facilitating) discussing Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop. If you haven't read that novel, you're welcome just to stop by and watch the performance, though!

But wait... there's more! Actor Jeffries Thaiss and musician Eric Scott Anthony will be performing a two-person adaptation of the Carol at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Upper Manhattan from December 12th to 14th. They will then bring their show to Historic Richmond Town on Staten Island on Sunday the 15th, and then they have a one-night-only performance at the Church of Sweden on 48th Street on Wednesday the 18th. If you miss all of those performances, you can then catch them at the Al Hirschfeld Gallery located in the Mansion/Museum of Greenwich Village from December 20th through 22nd.

A number of Carols have been annual traditions in New York, and for the seventh year, John Kevin Jones will perform his one-man version of the story at the Merchant House Museum on East 4th Street. Jones uses Dickens's own reading version for his performance, and his show will be running from November 29th until January 5th. I don't think I'll be getting to that one this year, but one of these days I really need to get down to see the Staten Island Shakespearean Theatre Company as they perform Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at the historic Conference House. This year, they'll be performing from December 12th to the 22nd.

If bigger productions are what you seek, the Carol is also running until January 5th on Broadway, where an adaptation by Jack Thorne is playing at the Lyceum Theatre, starring Campbell Scott, Andrea Martin, and LaChanze. Whichever version you see, give the old Alastair Sim movie a rest this year, and take advantage of the opportunity to see A Christmas Carol live!

The Importance of Being in the Park

This year, The Public Theater is producing three big-budget plays at the Delacorte in Central Park: Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus, and a stage adaptation of the Disney movie Hercules, the last of the three done as part of the theater's Public Works program. However, there are plenty of other great shows to see in the parks this summer, including New York Classical Theatre's delightful new production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Last night, I saw the classic Oscar Wilde comedy at the north end of in Central Park. Ushers greet you at the entrance at 103rd Street and Central Park West. Bring a blanket or a low folding chair, but make sure it's easy to carry, as you'll be moving from place to place. Each act is performed at a different location around the pond.

And be prepared for a potential surprise. I saw the show with the manly Ademide Akintilo playing Algernon while the charmingly feminine Connie Castanzo played Cecily. However, every other performance, they switch roles, so he plays Cecily, and she plays Algernon. All the other cast members switch roles as well, so every other performance is gender-swapped, which must be rather interesting, to say the least.

The Importance to Being Earnest is only playing until June 16th in Central Park. From June 18th to 23rd, the production will move to Brooklyn Bridge Park at Pier 1. Then, from June 25th through 30th, they'll be at Carl Schurz Park at East 86th Street in Manhattan. You can get more information and sign up for rain cancellation notices here.

Wherever you see it, and whether with a traditional cast or with the roles reversed, do make sure you get to the show. The cast, which includes Jed Peterson and Kristen Calgaro as Jack and Gwendolen, and Tina Stafford and Clay Storseth as Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble, is excellent. I saw Kate Goehring as a wonderful Lady Bracknell and John Michalski as a deadpan Merriman, but they might be just as good when they switch roles!

William Shakespeare is a perennial favorite for outdoor productions, and tomorrow night Hudson Warehouse is opening a new production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Riverside Park at 89th Street. As is the case with New York Classical Theatre, they pass a basket, and it's pay-what-you-can. Starting July 4th in the same location, Hudson Warehouse will be putting on a stage adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel The Man in the Iron Mask, and in August they'll be back to Shakespeare with The Merry Wives of Windsor.

If Coriolanus and The Merry Wives of Windsor aren't your cup of tea, and you're looking for more familiar Shakespeare territory, Black Henna Productions is doing Hamlet, Viking Prince of Denmark in parks throughout Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn this month. Also, Smith Street Stage will be doing Romeo and Juliet in Carroll Park, and starting in July Hip to Hip Theatre Company will be doing traveling productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III.

For those who are tired of work by that upstart crow Shakespeare, The Classical Theatre of Harlem is doing a real classic, The Bacchae by Euripides this July in Marcus Garvey Park. Last summer, they did a great job with Sophocles's Antigone, so it should be worth seeing, and once again, donations are appreciated, but there is no admission charged. For those who complain that theatre is too expensive in New York, this summer offers an appropriate response.

Antigone in Harlem

Last night I saw Classical Theatre of Harlem's production of Antigone, which sets the classic Sophocles play in an urban wasteland of the near future.

Alexandra King plays the title character, who refuses to compromise on the burial of her brother, Polynices. She isn't afraid to tell others exactly what she thinks, whether by insulting her sister Ismene (played by Ava McCoy) or spitting into the face of her uncle, King Creon.

In many ways, Creon is the protagonist of the play, not Antigone. Ty Jones (the company's founder who also played the title role in CTH's production of Macbeth in 2016) plays Creon with a fitting stateliness. We believe his growing rage both when he speaks to Antigone, and when he addresses his own son Haemon (played by Avon Haughton), who timidly tries to get his father to change his mind.

Though CTH does not credit an adaptor or translator, their website claims the piece was inspired by the adaptation by Paul Roche. Occasionally, the production introduces anachronisms, including some rather hysterical references to contemporary Harlem, but for the most part it sticks close to the original. One exception is that Creon's wife Eurydice (played by Adaku Okpi) has a slightly expanded role. This was a welcome change, given the gravitas Okpi brought to each of her scenes, and I would have liked to have seen even more of her.

It's great to see Greek drama performed outdoors the way it was intended, so come out to the Richard Rogers Amphitheater where the show is playing for free until July 30th.

MACBETH in Harlem

Scotland's come to Harlem... at least until the end of the month.

This summer, the Classical Theatre of Harlem is performing William Shakespeare's Macbeth in Marcus Garvey Park. Ty Jones, artistic director of the company, is playing the bloodthirsty tyrant.

I saw the show last night. Being that it's free and that the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in the park is a nice venue, you should definitely go. Roslyn Ruff is a wonderful Lady Macbeth, and the play features some great music.

My favorite performance, however, came from Anthony Vaughn Merchant as the porter. The performance takes some liberties with the text here. In the original, Shakespeare has the porter welcome to hell some infamous individuals from his own day. This porter welcomes some celebrities of today, including a certain orange-faced politician.

Last year, Classical Theatre of Harlem's production of The Tempest was better than The Public Theater's version in Central Park featuring Sam Waterston. While it's difficult to compare this production to the Public's Troilus and Cressida this year, I guarantee you that you'll see fight scenes just as good... and you won't have to wait in line.

Macbeth is playing until July 31st. For more information visit:

The Classical Theatre of Harlem

The First Noel

Tonight I was able to attend the very first preview of The First Noel, a band new holiday musical produced by the Classical Theatre of Harlem.

There are plenty of holiday musicals out there, including who knows how many versions of A Christmas Carol. With so many winter-themed extravaganzas, it might seem impossible for a new Christmas show to do anything fresh, yet that is exactly what The First Noel manages to accomplish.

For many people, the holidays can be a sad time, because of all the memories of departed loved ones we wished were still with us. I remember as a child watching my grandmother cry on Christmas Day. I couldn't understand how she could be so sad, but the ghosts of the past continued to haunt her.

The First Noel deals with a lot of tropes about Christmas: the commercialism, the inevitable family disputes, the persistence of poverty in the midst of plenty. First and foremost, however, it is a play about grief. It tells the story of a woman who must find a way to honor those gone while still being present in the moment for those who remain with us.

A memory play, The First Noel introduces the audience to a woman named--not coincidentally--Noel (played by Ashley Ware Jenkins). A successful photographer living in Atlanta, Noel returns to Harlem after the passing of her mother. In the family Brownstone once again, she watches a flood of memories rush by. Her younger self (played by Nia Bonita Caesar) wants nothing more than a new Walkman for Christmas, but for some strange reason, her family no longer celebrates the holiday.

I won't give any spoilers, but the audience also sees a ghostly presence billed in the program as "First Noel" (played by Zariah Jani Singletary), a young girl of about the same age. Noel's mother (played by Soara-Joye Ross) is haunted by a dark tragedy in her past. Twice, we see her nightmares re-enacted onstage with the frightening logic of dreams. The dead will not let her rest until she finally learns to let go and move on with her life.

And this is a Christmas story? Well... yes! Characters wrestle with faith throughout the show, and an onstage gospel choir won't let us forget that there is a spiritual message at the heart of the Christmas holiday. For those tired of the umpteenth Scrooge, overgrown elves, green grinches and bee-bee guns that can shoot your eye out, The First Noel offers a refreshing and faith-centered alternative.

Lelund Durond Thompson and Jason Michael Webb collaborated on the book, music, and lyrics. Steve H. Broadnax III directed the show, and Brian Harlan Brooks provided some outstanding choreography.

The First Noel is playing until New Year's Eve at the historic Apollo Theatre. For more information and tickets, check out:

The Classical Theatre of Harlem

Top Comedies After 1737

I previously wrote about the effects of the Licensing Act of 1737, which brought broad censorship to the British stage in the 18th century, and continued to hold back playwrights well into the 20th century.

Comedies like John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and the rollicking satires of Henry Fielding had drawn the ire of Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister. He was determined to make sure he would not be made fun of onstage. The Licensing Act silenced the laughter, and comic writing migrated from the stage to the novel.

In the wake of this massive new censorship law, what comedies were produced? Now that political theatre was effectively banned, what could the playhouses of the Georgian era actually stage? What were the comic plays they put on, over and over again, which proved to be the most popular? The answer is: virtually nothing new.

From 1737 to the end of the eighteenth century, all of the top ten most performed comedies in London were (with one important exception) revivals from earlier eras. I recently came across a list of these comedies, and I found some of the names on it quite unexpected. Here they are in reverse order:

10. The Alchemist by Ben Jonson. Jonson's reputation once exceeded that of Shakespeare, though his works are seldom performed today. Personally, The Alchemist is my favorite of his, and in the 18th century it out-ranked all of his other comedies, as well as all but two comedies by Shakespeare.

9. As You Like It by William Shakespeare. One of the Bard's two comedies to top Jonson was this perennial favorite. Now that women could perform on stage, Rosalind was a wonderful opportunity for actresses to show off their legs in perhaps the greatest cross-dressing role of all time.

8. School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. That's right - Sheridan's classic play was the only new comedy to break into the top ten, and it didn't premiere until 1777. For 40 years, the comic well ran pretty dry for the British stage, and even Sheridan barely made it onto the list.

7. The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar. This 1706 comedy tones down some of the bawdiness of the Restoration, but still has plenty of laughs. I saw New York Classical Theatre do the show a few years back, and I can attest that it still works.

6. The Busy Body by Susanna Centlivre. For those who think there were no female playwrights before Wendy Wasserstein, this 1709 play should be a wake-up call. Though Centlivre is not performed much today, she once outranked Sheridan!

5. The Tempest by William Shakespeare. This late Shakespearean comedy has always been a favorite. Some recent productions in New York have occasionally missed the mark, though I rather enjoyed this summer's production by The Classical Theatre of Harlem.

4. The Provoked Husband by Colley Cibber and John Vanbrugh. You haven't heard of this 1728 play? I can't say that I'm surprised. I've never read it myself, but it once outranked all of Shakespeare's comedies!

3. The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar. This 1707 play is probably Farquhar's best known, so it should come as no surprise it ranked so high. It received 419 performances in London from 1737 to 1800. As You Like It by comparison received only 264 over that same time period.

2. The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele. This sentimental comedy edged out The Beaux' Stratagem with 434 performances in London from 1737 to 1800. It was no match for the era's top play, however.

1. The Beggar's Opera by John Gay. In spite of the Licensing Act, a ballad opera savagely attacking Robert Walpole and his policies remained (by far) the top comedy in the wake of the new censorship law. The Beggar's Opera had 875 London performances from 1737 to 1800, far more than any other comedy. Though the play was one of the chief causes of the Licensing Act, Walpole couldn't stop performances. It was already an audience favorite.

"Hang not on my garments"

Last night, I saw the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of The Tempest with Sam Waterston as Prospero. In spite of the star actor and large cast, this production seemed rather scaled down from past productions at the Delacorte, and from past productions of The Tempest I have seen.

The most noticeable oddity, however, was one of pronunciation. Waterston pronounces the home city of his character as Milan, the way we normally pronounce the name of that city. However, to fit in with the meter, it really ought to be pronounced Milan. (It's a trochee, not an iamb.)

For instance in the second scene of the play, Prospero says: "Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and / A prince of power." If this is regular iambic pentameter, it should scan: "Thy FA-ther WAS the DUKE of MI-lan, AND a PRINCE of POW-er." Why the change? Perhaps the Public wanted to make the play more accessible for an audience less familiar with the mechanics of verse. Still, it threw off the meter, and to me sounded very odd.

Prospero caries a staff and wears a magical cloak. In this production, that staff is a wand-like stick, and the magical cloak is a flimsy cape that hardly covers his back. Though each production is welcome to reinterpret great characters, I certainly don't picture Prospero holding a twig and wearing a fringed shawl.

I went leafing through some of my books, and I came across a great sketch of Charles Kean in the same role in 1857. Now THAT is a cloak!

Perhaps I am being too critical, and maybe this is a time to heed Prospero's injunction to "Hang not on my garments." But since I've already brought up Kean's 1857 version, I can't help but mention that Charles Dickens and his interminable houseguest Hans Christian Andersen attended opening night of that production. Here's what Andersen had to say about it:

The entire opening scene was shouted out... while the act curtain was still down, and when it rose, great, heavy waves rushed forward towards the footlights. The entire theatre was a raging sea, a large vessel tossed forth and back, filling nearly the whole stage.... The masts fell, and soon the vessel itself disappeared beneath the heavy seas; this was managed, as Dickens told me, by means of a complete ship of air-tight canvas which had been pumped up, and from which they suddenly released the air. The great body collapsed like a rag and was hidden by the waves, which towered to half the height of the stage....

Sound impressive? We haven't even gotten to the magic part yet.

Ariel's first appearance was highly poetic and lovely. As Prospero called him forth, a shooting star fell from heaven and touched the turf; it shone in blue and green flame, in which one suddenly saw Ariel's beautiful, angelic form. All in white he stood, with wings from his shoulders to the ground.... Each revelation of Ariel was different and beautiful. At one point he suddenly appeared hanging by his hand from festoons of vine leaves; at another he floated across the stage in a mechanism which was hardly possible to discern....

Though practically minimalist in comparison to such elaborate productions of The Tempest in the Victorian era, the Public's production, directed by Michael Greif, does has its moments. The masque is quite lovely (with Iris being played by a gifted aerialist), and the reconciliation scene was affecting, once Waterson quieted some of his bluster and began to relate to the other characters on a more human (and humane) level. The play also features original music by Michael Friedman.

The Public's production of The Tempest is only running in Central Park until July 5. However, if you want to see a different version of The Tempest in a different park, come out to the Classical Theatre of Harlem's production next month in Marcus Garvey Park. The magnificent Ron Cephas Jones is playing Prospero.