Joan Marcus
It feels wrong to bridle at a Public Theater/Public Works production; this, above all theater productions in New York, is the blue chip of community involvement, including not just trained actors but groups and people who love theater and want to be part of it under the inky night sky of Central Park. Public Works’ productions feature multitudes on stage, young and old, cultural diversity to the fore. It is wonderful to see.
As we are told at the beginning of this musical production of As You Like It (Delacorte Theater, to September 11)—first staged in 2017, adapted by Shaina Taub and Laurie Woolery, with music and lyrics by Taub and directed by Woolery—this is New York. And we cheer, because we should cheer it. Free theater. In Central Park. Starring the people for the people.
As You Like It is a pleasant Shakespeare comedy, one of the lightest on its feet (here it’s around 90 minutes) with a cast of characters who get lost, and inevitably find themselves more profoundly, in the Forest of Arden. There is, of course, family drama at the heart of it; two brotherly rulers at war for not very elaborated-on reasons; one, Duke Senior (Darius de Haas) who seems nice, exiled in the forest, one, Duke Frederick (Eric Pierre), who seems meaner, on the throne.