Shakespeare and Sondheim are on the schedule for the upcoming 50th anniversary season of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The 2012 summer season will kick off with classic comedy As You Like It, starring Lily Rabe as Rosalind and directed by Daniel Sullivan, followed by Sondheim favorite Into the Woods. No set dates have been announced for the productions, however As You Like It begins its run in June, and Into the Woods will follow at the end of July.
Sullivan, a Tony winner for his work on Proof, directed the 2011 Shakespeare in the Park production of All’s Well That Ends Well and the 2010 production of The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino. Rabe earned a Tony nomination for The Merchant of Venice, and is currently on Broadway in Theresa Rebeck's Seminar. No other casting has been announced. The As You Like It creative team will feature scenic design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Natasha Katz and sound design by Acme Sound Partners.
Beloved "after happily ever after" musical Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, will be directed by Timothy Sheader, who helmed the Olivier Award-winning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre London production in 2010, with co-direction by Liam Steel. The Public Theater production will feature an as-yet-undetermined American cast as well as scenic design by John Lee Beatty and Soutra Gilmour, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Natasha Katz, movement direction by Liam Steel and sound design by Acme Sound Partners.