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Tonight is first preview for Shakespeare in the Park’s initial summer offering, The Taming of the Shrew—the all-female version directed by Phyllida Lloyd—and you should have been lining up for tickets at noon—or entering the online lottery. Whaaaaa? you respond, have you not looked outside? It’s raining! Or, at least, it’s going to rain any minute. True, the clouds are gray, the streets are wet and anyone with common sense left the apartment with an umbrella this morning. That just means your odds are great to snag seats. The weather forecast says there may be more showers around 3pm, but little to none after that. And if you’re afraid of a freak rainstorm causing the show to be canceled, well, who can say, but the good folks at the Delacorte Theater wait till the very last minute to call off the performance, hoping the weather will cooperate. So hie thee to the Park. Here’s what you need to know:
Tickets are distributed in front of the Delacorte on a first-come, first-served basis at noon on the day of the show, and you’ll have to wait in line for a long time if you want to get in. Arrive no later than 10am to give yourself a chance at tickets, though it would be wise to get there much earlier if you can manage to drag yourself out of bed. (Central Park doesn’t open until 6am, but—although the Public doesn’t condone it—it is legal to camp out before then by the park entrance at Central Park West and 81st Street; a line monitor from the Public escorts early birds to the theater when the park opens.) To endure the hours-long wait, you’ll want a folding chair or a blanket, and something—a book, an iPhone—to keep yourself occupied. Tickets are limited to two per person.
Go here for more details. And enjoy the show! As Petruchio says of his plan to tame the willful Kate:
For I will board her, though she chide as loud
As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.
Okay, it's not autumn but you get the idea. Stay dry!