The Public Theater's musical version of Twelfth Night—the second show of the free, 2018 Shakespeare in the Park season—began performances July 17 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The adaptation is conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub and directed by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Kwei-Armah, with choreography by Lorin Latarro.
Performances will continue through August 19.
The cast of Twelfth Night is made up of Ato Blankson-Wood as Orsino, Nikki M. James as Viola, Andrew Kober as Malvolio, co-creator Taub as Feste, Shuler Hensley as Sir Toby Belch, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich as Olivia, Lori Brown-Niang as Maria, Troy Anthony as Sebastian, JW Guido as Illyrian, Daniel Hall as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Jonathan Jordan as Antonio, and Patrick J. O’Hare as Fabian.
Kim Blanck is the female understudy and Javier Ignacio is the male understudy, along with two rotating ensembles of community members who are also a part of the production.
The Public Works community partner organizations are Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn), Center for Family Life in Sunset Park (Brooklyn), DreamYard (Bronx), The Fortune Society (Queens), and Military Resilience Foundation (all boroughs), along with alumni partners Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education (Bronx), Children's Aid (all boroughs) and Domestic Workers United (all boroughs).
Twelfth Night features scenic design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Andrea Hood, lighting design by John Torres, sound design by Jessica Paz, hair and wig design by Cookie Jordan, fight direction by Lisa Kopitsky, orchestrations by Mike Brun, and music direction by Taub.
