6
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MAY 19, 2019
LOOKING FOR A HERO: Brooklynites have fi ve chances to pick up tickets to the Shakespeare in the
Park production of “Much Ado About Nothing” in Central Park. Joan Marcus
SPRING
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ents aren’t on their level
— it’s a generational difference.”
The musical, based on
an 1891 play by Frank Wedekind
and given a rock score
by Duncan Sheik in 2006,
follows a pack of teenagers
in a religious rural village
who take matters into their
own hands (sometimes literally)
when their parents
refuse to discuss the birds
and the bees, the director
said.
“As these kids are
hitting puberty and going
through their sexual
awakening, they’re in
1890s Christian Germany,
which in terms of sexual
thought was a very oppressive
place,” he said. “Some
of these parents have told
their children that the
stork brings the baby.”
In the Gallery Players
production, the kids form
a band, and some of the
characters — who are almost
all played by actors
in their late teens or early
20s — play live music on
stage, giving the show the
feel of a rock concert, Brennan
said. The young thespians
play acoustic guitar,
electric guitar, bass, piano,
drums, and the violin, all
while dressed in modernday
threads.
“We’re using all kinds
of rock sounds, so it’s going
to have a little touch of the
1890s, but it’s going to feel
very modern,” he said.
The songs are only performed
by the youngsters,
the director said. The parents
— all of them played
by just two actors — are
stuck with regular speech,
because the music symbolizes
the conversations
about sexuality they are
trying to avoid. The adult
actors also dress in 19th
century garb.
The coming-of-age show
will have the feel of a concert,
but the play has plenty
of drama — the young
characters deal with gun
violence, sexual harassment,
and abortion, issues
that keep the more than
century-old story relevant
to today’s audiences, the director
said.
“We all go through this,
everybody goes through
the same thing, everybody
goes through that body
change,” he said. “Even
though it takes place in the
1890s, it’s very 2019.”
“Spring Awakening” at
Gallery Players (199 14th St.
between Fourth and Fifth
avenues in Park Slope, (718)
595–0547, www.galleryplayers.
com). May 18–June 9;
Thu–Fri at 8 p.m.; Sat, 2
p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sun at 3
p.m. $30 ($20 seniors and
kids under 12).
Continued from cover
BY BILL ROUNDY
Is there no play to ease
the anguish of a torturing
hour?
There is, my lord, but
Brooklyn is a little light
on the Bard this summer.
South Brooklyn Shakespeare
is on hiatus, and
New York Classical Theatre
has moved on to Oscar
Wilde. Smith Street Stage
will launch its “Romeo and
Juliet” on June 14, but if
you want a Shakespearean
comedy, you might have to
travel across the river, to
the distant isle of Manhattan’s
Central Park.
The Public Theater
launches its 56th season
of free Shakespeare in
the Park next week with a
production of “Much Ado
About Nothing” featuring
an all-black cast, and
residents of Kings County
can get a pantaloon up on
Manhattanites — for fi ve
performances, free tickets
will be released right here
in Brooklyn.
These distribution
points typically attract
fewer people than the Public
Theater’s home base
across the river, which
means your chance of getting
a pair of tickets is
much higher.
How to score your
passes:
First, you will need a
Public Theater Patron ID.
Follow this link: http://
publictheater.org/Programs
-Events/Shakespeare
in-the-Park/register
, and type in your
email address. You will
get an email with your Patron
ID number. Bring it
with you to the distribution
site.
On the days and locations
listed below, ticket
distribution will start at
noon, but the line starts
a few hours in advance.
Show up early and bring
a book.
When you reach the
front, each person can get
a voucher for two tickets to
that night’s show.
Finally, go to the Delacorte
Theater in Central
Park in Manhattan (enter
at 81st Street and Central
Park West), between 5:30
and 7:30 p.m. that evening
to exchange your voucher
for a pair of tickets. The
show will start at 8 p.m.
Where to go:
May 21 at Brooklyn
Children’s Museum (145
Brooklyn Ave. at St. Marks
Avenue in Crown Heights).
June 6 at Brownsville
Recreation Center (1555
Linden Blvd. at Mother
Gaston Boulevard in
Brownsville).
June 8 at King’s Highway
Library (2115 Ocean
Ave. between Kings Highway
and Quentin Road in
Sheepshead Bay).
June 14 at Macon Library
(361 Lewis Ave. at
Macon Street in Bedford-
Stuyvestant)
June 18 at Clinton Hill
Library (380 Washington
Ave. between Lafayette and
Greene avenues in Clinton
Hill).
Free tickets are also
available by lottery
through the TodayTix
app.
SPRING FORWARD: The youngsters in the rock musical “Spring
Awakening” are eager to explore their sexuality, while their parents
(shown in silhouette) prefer to keep them in the dark.
Photo by Julianne McShane
Free Shakes: Public Theater
gives out tickets in Brooklyn
Macy’s has fi red the
patriotic display for more
than four decades and this
year it plans to add three
times more fi repower than
last year, including from
more than a dozen points
along the Kings County’s
namesake bridge and its
towers throughout the
25-minute display.
The spectacle has attracted
millions of spectators
in previous years
and the company will announce
the full details of
the viewing locations, access
points, special performances,
and more in early
June.
For more information,
visit www.macys.com/social/
fi reworks .
FOURTH
Continued from cover
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