Overview

• The Public Theater relaunched Free Shakespeare in the Park at the renovated Central Park venue after about $85 million in upgrades to infrastructure and accessibility.
• Saheem Ali directs a contemporary take featuring real-life siblings Lupita and Junior Nyong’o as Viola and Sebastian, Sandra Oh as Olivia, and Peter Dinklage as Malvolio.
• Reviews published August 21–22 highlight jubilant design, music and comic performances, frequently singling out Dinklage’s Malvolio as a standout.
• Critics note the streamlined, sub-two-hour format trades some romantic nuance for brisk momentum, with multilingual passages and migration imagery reframing Illyria.
• Visual signatures include towering “WHAT YOU WILL” letters, a fashion-forward curtain call by designer Oana Botez, and an onstage string quartet with new songs by Michael Thurber.