How exactly does Shakespeare in the Park work
(in terms of tickets, reservations, etc.)? Ok,
FIRST--you donate a lotta money! (
)
orSECOND--you try to win a ticket online for a certain day or one of a range of days (Meryl actually won once--I've never even tried)
orTHIRD--like most Noo Yawkas, you stand "ON" line (the rest of the English Speaking World, if you're not queueing, you're standing "IN" line).
This is how it works: If it's going to be a very popular show--and I think
Anne Hathaway will be--you have to get up REALLY, REALLY EARLY, to the Delacorte Theatre, and STAND ON LINE. BUT: There Are Very Important Caveats and Protocals, To Wit:
If you can be there by
6:00 AM, good. You're in!
By
7:00 AM, you have a really good chance--I hope.
8:00 AM, well, maybe, but--probably no.
After 8:00 AM? For a popular show? As we say in New York: No Way! (Or, Whaddya Tawkin' About--
Fugettaboutit!!)
(If you arrive after 9:00 AM, and if you are very optimistic (or if you are very STUBBORN), the nice line monitors will keep a guesstimate head count at some point, about, oh, 11:00ish o'clock, or so, and say--no chance, sorry. If it's close, and you feel lucky?? Well, wait and see. Once I got the LAST PAIR OF TICKETS to see 'HAIR'--MAYBE--they told me at 2:00 PM that I HAD to come back at 6:00ish and wait again, AND IT WORKED--great seats, too, a pair of patrons tickets given back--but it was a fluke.
GET THERE AT 7 AM the latest!)
Oh, right, YOU thought that if you got yourself TO the perimeter of Central Park BY 7:00 AM, that was ok?? Nooooooo, no, no, no! You have to walk all the way THROUGH the CENTER of the park to the theater, THEN you have to follow all along to the fast moving back of the line--
In other words, if you want to be AT THE BACK OF THE LINE at 7:00 AM, figure you are walking into the NEAREST entrance (Either Fifth Avenue OR Central Park West) by 6:40 the Latest.
Does this seem like Boot Camp yet?? Wake up, Soldier!! Up and at'em!!
NOW. THE FINE DETAILS.You thought you could show up at 6:00 AM, get your (admittedly,
FREE ) tickets, and go home?
NO!
You have to WAIT until they GIVE OUT THE TICKETS UNTIL 1:00 PM (but it is really 1:30 or even 1:45).
And there's more!Good thing is: Each Person Standing ON Line gets TWO tickets--but no more. SO:
If you want THREE tickets together, at least TWO people on line have to be actually BE there FROM THE BEGINNING--
Yes, the Line is POLICED!! (Friendly, but firmly.) In other words, if YOU get there at 6:00 AM, and second friend shows up at 7:25 AM, sorry, no, she cannot join the first friend, she must go to the much longer line. You BOTH may get two sets of two tickets (and weirdly, the second set may be better than the first) but you will definitely sitting in different part of the theater.
Anyway, depending on HOW MANY TICKETS in a
contiguous block you want, how many people people have to stand on line--and can you sit??
Well:
For FOUR Tickets, TWO People must stand on line--
For FIVE Tickets, THREE People must stand on line--
For SIX Tickets, THREE People must stand on line--
For SEVEN Tickets, FOUR People must stand on line--
For EIGHT Tickets, FOUR People must stand on line--
and so one, ad infinitum.
SO--if you want NINE Tickets
together, and FIVE People have to wait and the other four get to sleep in, go shopping, sightseeing, etc., well--to you really have to really be there the WHOLE time? Can you sit? Eat? BATHROOM BREAKS?
?
Here how it works:
The line snakes back into the park in a truly serpentine circuit--sometimes under the trees, sometimes completely open, and sometimes HAPPILY, by random chance, your part of the line forms alongside banks of park benches. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, you have won the Park Bench Award--you get to sit there SIX (
or seven) hours until 1:00 - 1:45, when they call you up, one by one, at the ticket window. Once you have your tickets, YOU ARE FREE to go home, sleep, etc., til you can come back just 15 - 20 minutes "curtain" time (except there is no curtain)!
IF YOU DO NOT win the Park Bench Lottery, what then??
People bring blankets (Me--like three to cushion my admittedly boney butt.)
People bring Pillows. They bring Air Mattresses. They bring BEACH CHAIRS.
You get the idea.
Yes, they bring food--but guess what, you can even ORDER--guys from a designated deli bicycles back and forth asking anyone wants anything. Then, about 45 minutes to an hour, the guy wanders back and doesn't remember you are the same person, and you have to knock him down off the bicycle and get your coffee and bagel with schmear. If you're lucky.
BATHROOM BREAKS: Yes, You Can!!--the nice Line Monitor will have learned to know you by face AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, Your Line Peers, before and Aft, will know who you are--you can just say you're going to the loo. You LEAVE all your stuff--YES, IT'S OK, REALLY--I mean, don't leave your sable or the Philip Patek watch sitting on the top of the pile, but otherwise, even if you are the ONLY person waiting on line to get two tickets, YES, you can leave your stuff in the middle of the park, you walk all the way to the front of the line, and go to the loo just next to the Delacorte Theater. Then you go back. If you try and play cute, SAY you're going to the loo, then go HOME, sleep, do the laundry, have a liesurely lunch, then come back FOUR HOURS LATER, forget it--your stuff is still there, but PEER PRESSURE and the LINE MONITORS will say--sorry Charlie, NO TICKETS FOR YOU!!
(You must be wondering--don't people get OTHERS to get tickets for them--by, ahem, MONEY??? Yes, obviously, and this is where things get TRICKY and even DELICATE. The monitors are looking for people who come back day after day, and maybe DON'T look like legitimate Theatre Geeks (or
Anne Hathaway fans) and also--there are, shall we say, CLASS ISSUES, sadly. But the Administrators of the Public Theater are serious--this is a FREE theater, and tickets are FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. Weeks will go by, then one fine day--wham--there is a huge exodus of "free-lance" NON-legitimate patrons. And so it goes.
RAIN??Of course, this is an OPEN AIR theater--and an OPEN AIR line!! FOLLOW THE WEATHER REPORTS!! Bring your umbrella! Bring some plastic sheeting, if you like.
In re: the Weather--well, 2008 was the NICEST New York Summer I have ever witnessed since 1994--the BEST. It was SUNNY, the temperature mostly ranged between 75 - 82, and the humidity was LOW--
gorgeous. And it hardly ever rained during 'Hair'--really, great Karma!
In 2007--Unbelievably--bad. It not only rained every other day--IT STORMED. Even worse, when the day was gorgeous, and people waited all day to see the play, at 8:00 PM, the heavens opened. No play. So--you never know. Propitiate all your gods and hope for the best!
Did I scare you all?? Really, it's GREAT fun--I've been going to Shakespeare in the Park MYSELF (and with friends) since 1969, forty years ago! Hope I see you there!!
xxx
John
Video: Learn what goes on behind-the-scenes at
The Public Theater's summer Shakespeare Festival. http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_newsroom/video/index.html?boro=M&page=1&key=161