The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing, starring Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper and The Color Purple Tony nominee and Orange Is the New Black star Danielle Brooks, officially opened June 11 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
Tony Award winner Kenny Leon directs.
Cooper stars as Leonato alongside Brooks as Beatrice in a cast that also features Boardwalk Empire's Erik LaRay Harvey as Antonio/Verges, Grantham Coleman (Buzzer) as Benedick, Jeremie Harris (Legion) as Claudio, Daniel Croix Henderson (Seven Guitars, Purchase Rep.) as Balthasar, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson (Yale Rep's An Enemy of the People) as Friar Francis/Sexton, Tiffany Denise Hobbs (Yale Rep’s Twelfth Night) as Ursula, Lateefah Holder (Modern Family) as Dogberry, Billy Eugene Jones (A Raisin in the Sun) as Don Pedro, Margaret Odette (The Convent) as Hero, Hubert Point-Du Jour (Happyish) as Don John, Jaime Lincoln Smith (Pipeline) as Boracchio, and Olivia Washington (The Butler) as Margaret.
Read reviews below.
Broadway Journal (James Feinberg)
Entertainment Weekly (Allison Adato)
The New York Times (Jesse Green)
Theater News Online (Jeremy Gerard)
Time Out New York (Raven Snook)
Performances are scheduled through June 23. The Shakespeare in the Park season also includes Coriolanus and a Public Works presentation of a new stage adaptation of Disney’s Hercules.
