About the Show

The Public Theater presents a free outdoor musicalization of Shakespeare's comedy, a dreamlike tale of faithful friends, feuding families, and lovers in disguise.

Forced from their homes, Orlando, Duke Senior, his daughter Rosalind, and his niece Celia escape to the Forest of Arden, a fantastical place of transformation where all are welcomed and embraced. Lost amidst the trees, the refugees find community and acceptance under the stars. Part of the Public Theater's Public Works series, which brings professional artists and community members together to create ambitious works of participatory theater.

Critic Reviews (5)

"Rollicking, poignant and flat-out delightful...At about 100 minutes, it is a brief and generous respite from floods and nukes and violent demonstrations...What makes 'As You Like It' so thrilling is that when the cast is all assembled, it looks like New York City — busy, diverse, terrifically vital...For the optimistic, they are reminders that theater, like democracy, is a collaborative form and that when all those disparate voices come together, the effect can be extraordinary."
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“The story leaps off the stage with sizzling choreography by Sonya Tayeh, the tenderest of vocal arrangements by Shaina Taub and playful direction by Laurie Woolery…It’s wonderful to see the way the Public’s productions in Central Park bring the ideal of the public park into the show…It is an incredible ensemble of diverse and intriguing faces that is gathered for this production emphasizing this community feeling…You can take your kids to this show and they have a good time.”
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"I found this ‘As You Like It’ to be solid entertainment, thanks largely to its spectacular pageantry. In part because of its scale, it isn’t the most subtly rendered version of the story you’re ever likely to see. Its humor runs to the broad (and sometimes self-referential), rather than to the thoughtful and understated. Still, the rapt audience clearly found it winning.”
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"An inspiring rendition...The play briefly covers the romance that ensues between Rosalind and Orlando. Had there been more scenes showing the growing affection for one another, the characters’ chemistry might have appeared stronger. The songs and lyrics were standouts in this work...This adaptation succeeded in bringing Shakespeare’s play about conflict, drama, hope, and life’s inevitable adversities, to life on stage."
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"A thrilling array of our city’s vibrant population is singing, dancing, speechifying, and wrestling up on the stage...What Public Works participants lack in polish and training, they make up for in sheer, unadulterated joy...The presence of such a large and radiant ensemble has a democratizing effect in more ways than one...It can’t be easy to stage so many bodies. Most of the time Woolery made it work, making those instances where the staging doesn’t flow seamlessly stand out all the more."
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