Lily Rabe, Byron Jennings, and Al Pacino in The Public Theater's production of The Merchant of Venice. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Usually Shakespeare in the Park performs two plays at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park each summer:  one at the beginning and one at the end, with completely different casts.  Well, not this year.  The Winter’s Tale and The Merchant of Venice are played in repertory, meaning they both have virtually the same cast, and the company rotates which play performs each day.  I saw the two different plays one day apart from each other, and the result from seeing them so close to each other is complete awe of these actors who enchant the stage each night.

The Winter’s Tale, directed by Michael Greif, at first might be described as a magical and charming love story, but quickly turns dark after Leontes, the King of Sicilia, believes his wife to have cheated on him with his best friend.  The result:  some death, and great destruction of happiness.  But this is just the first act, people.  The second act takes place 16 years later and focuses on other characters that are loosely related to the first act’s characters.  The result:  laughs, love, and putting the puzzle pieces together for those who have become separated over the years as the story resolves itself.  The costumes are elaborate, there is fun use of shadow puppets and mechanical sheep, and the cast of 24 performs the lines well, but there is still something a little strange about the play.  Winter is not one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, and this can be understood because the tones of the two acts are so jarringly different from one another that it makes the whole play not as enjoyable as Merchant, but still worth seeing.

The Merchant of Venice, with a larger cast of 28 and directed by Daniel Sullivan, is better known than Winter, made obvious by the recognized phases that come from it (for example: “all that glitters is not gold” and “love is blind”).  Merchant, led by the fantastic Al Pacino, is more shocking than Winter.  This is because (perhaps since it was written in the late 1500’s) there are some very anti-Semitic themes and lines.  The story surrounds the transaction of a man asking for money for his friend (so this friend can woo a wealthy woman) from a Jewish moneylender named Shylock (Pacino), and the dangerous deal they make – a “pound of flesh” if the man is unable to repay the Shylock on time.  The stage is outside (one of the wonderful aspects of Shakespeare in the Park), and the set consists of rings of threatening looking gates that can be slid in circles to form the various locations in the play.  The entire cast is strong, and the story is an intelligent and unique one, making Merchant a fantastic and flawless show.

While both considered were comedies at the time they were written, nowadays they would be called “problem plays,” because they are not all light and there are social problems at the core of both stories.

Linda Emond, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Jesse L. Martin in The Winter's Tale. Photo by Joan Marcus.

For example, Winter’s whole first act is only about a husband’s anger and jealousy, and Merchant’s ending is mixed, because not everyone ends up happy.

As is required of theater in repertory, the actors are the same in both plays, except for a few of the main roles.  But, everyone has differently sized roles in each to be fair and to display each actor’s talents.  It is highly entertaining to see the cast portray more than one person, and you become amazed at the fact that these talented people have learned two entire plays full of lines, and have to switch roles each night.  Some actors play very similar characters in both plays, like Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who is funny is both and has perfect comedic timing.  On the other hand, Hamish Linklater, who is a serious romantic lead in Merchant, plays a funny, foolish thief in Winter.

Although tickets may be hard to get (because everyone wants to see it, leading to lines that form overnight) they are FREE, which makes Shakespeare in the Park a wonderful New York summer tradition.  And this tradition has been enriched with The Winter’s Tale and The Merchant of Venice playing in repertory this summer from June 9 to August 1.