Shakespeare in the Park Returns to NYC this Summer

The famous FREE Shakespeare in the Park performances return to Central Park’s Delacorte Theater this summer, with a reimagined production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” set in Harlem.

The 2021 season starts on Tuesday, July 6, with reduced seating capacity for social distancing.

The 2020 season was cancelled by the Pandemic, and Broadway and Off-Broadway shows also were shuttered.

The Public Theater, which produces the free Shakespeare plays, tweeted “We are SO READY. The Delacorte isn’t empty, it’s full of hope that we will be together again this summer.”

In a press conference announcing the return of the famous Shakespeare in the Park, Mayor Bill de Blasio described the planned reopening as “a great harbinger of things to come in New York City.”

He quoted a line from one of Shakespeare’s works for good measure.

“For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy,” quoting from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI, Part 3.

“And I look forward to all of you getting that sunburn together. People will be lined up for miles for the chance to be back in this beautiful space, and it’s going to be a sign of rebirth. When the first actor walks on the stage on July 6 it will be another sign that New York City is coming back for good and for better.”

free Shakespeare in the Park returns in 2021

Delacorte Theater photo courtesy Public Theater

Past productions of Shakespeare in the Park have featured such world-famous and award-winning actors as Meryl Streep and Morgan Freeman in versions of “The Taming of the Shrew” and Al Pacino in “The Merchant of Venice”.

The Public Theater also produced the stage version of the blockbuster musical Hamilton.

There is no word yet about FREE outdoor performances of Shakespeare in Bryant Park, which is produced by a different theater group.