Two Gentlemen of Verona Begins Performances Aug. 16

By: Aug. 15, 2005
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The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Public Theatre revival of the musical version of Shakespeare's classic, will begin performances tomorrow Tuesday, August 16th and will continue through Sunday, September 11th at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

The show stars Rosario Dawson (Rent film, Sin City) as Julia, Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Lion King) as Silvia, Norm Lewis (Side Show, A New Brain) as Valentine, David Costabile (Caroline, or Change, Titanic) as Launce, Oscar Isaac (When It's Cocktail Time in Cuba) as Proteus, Paolo Montalban (Pacific Overtures) as Eglamour and Megan Lawrence (Urinetown) as Lucetta. Tracee Beazer, Bridget Berger, John Cariani, Kate Chapman, Christine Digiallonardo, Shakiem Evans, Ruben Flores, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Danielle Lee Greaves, Joanne Javien, Mel Johnson Jr., Raymond J. Lee, DeQuina Moore, Maurice Murphy, Richard Ruiz, Stacey Sargeant, Don Stephenson, Amber Stone, Will Swenson, JD Webster and Noah Weisberg comprise the ensemble. 

The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which boasts a book by John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves) and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot (Hair), will be directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall (Wonderful Town, Kiss Me, Kate). This staging, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Public Theatre, will "reimagine" rather than reproduce the original Tony-winning production.

As produced by Joseph Papp, the musical transferred the action from Milan and Verona to New York City and Puerto Rico, and starred Raul Julia, Jonelle Allen and Clifton Davis (Stockard Channing and Jeff Goldblum also had parts in the show). At first, Papp's faith in the show was shaky, but he proceeded to retool the musical and it opened at the St. James Theatre on December 1st, 1971 to run for 613 performances. Nominated for Best Original Score, it won Best Book of a Musical for Guare and the Best Musical Tony, famously beating out Follies that year.

 Tickets to The Two Gentlemen of Verona are free, and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
 



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