FREE Shakespeare in the Park

I always thought of Al Pacino as being middle-aged, like in his early retirement years. This was before I wiki’d him and discovered he is 70 YEARS OLD.

One foot in the grave, basically. So it seems urgent to make it to Shakespeare in the Park this summer. Pacino stars in “The Merchant of Venice” as Shylock, the character famous for demanding a “pound of flesh” as payment for a debt.

Tickets are FREE and maddeningly inconvenient to get. They are given away at 1pm on the day of the show at the Delacorte Theater, and you need to be in line by 9am, 10 latest. Which is at least four hours of waiting, it’s true, but on a warm day with a bagel sandwich and a New York Times, it’s really kind of nice. There is a limit of two tickets per person, and if your date cancels you’re not supposed to sell your tickets on Craigslist, even though you would probably make a killing. The Parks Department frowns on it.

You can bring your own beverages and food, but everything must fit under your seat. Hopefully they don’t literally execute these fit checks, because the floor of a public theater has probably seen some disturbing shit that you don’t necessarily want your sandwich near. Also no glass bottles – I assume because they think you would chuck them at the stage or other theatergoers.

Shakespeare in the Park
The Delacorte Theater in Central Park
(enter at 81st Street and Central Park West or 79th Street and Fifth Avenue)
June 9th – Aug 1st
8pm
FREE