Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Public Theater Board Chair Arielle Tepper Madover, and Public Theater Executive Director Patrick Willingham Photo

From: Photo Flash: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Takes First Bows at Central Park's Delacorte Theatre!

The Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing officially opened tlast night, Monday, June 16. The production will run through Sunday, July 6. Obie Award winner Hamish Linklater and Tony Award nominee Lily Rabe return to the Park as the wise-cracking, would-be lovers Beatrice and Benedick in the beloved romantic comedy. Central Park becomes sun-drenched Sicily at the turn of the last century, where the heat of summer ignites the fevered passions of lovesick ladies in corsets and pining gentlemen spying from the verandah. Three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien directs this delightful skirmish of wit between two self-declared bachelors tricked by their mischief-making friends into falling in love against their will and in spite of their own hearts. Check out photos from opening night below!