See Great Performances’ Vibrant, Star-Studded ‘Twelfth Night’ on PBS for the ‘Most Perfect Comedy’
Preview
What To Know
- Director Saheem Ali’s vibrant production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, featuring a star-studded cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh, and Peter Dinklage, was recorded at New York City’s renovated Delacorte Theater for PBS.
- The play explores themes of mistaken identity, love triangles, immigration, and gender norms, with Ali highlighting the relevance of Viola’s disguise.
- The outdoor venue remains lively with both enthusiastic audiences and the theater’s notorious raccoons.
“If music be the food of love, play on.” The curtain rises on William Shakespeare‘s beloved Twelfth Night, reimagined by director and Tony nominee Saheem Ali (Buena Vista Social Club) in a vibrant Shakespeare in the Park performance recorded this summer for PBS at New York City’s newly renovated Delacorte Theater. (It airs as part of Great Performances on November 14.) “[Twelfth Night] is a perfect play,” admits Ali. “It’s got humor, a little darkness, some fantasy — all the ingredients of what is actually the most perfect comedy ever written.”
The classic mistaken identity tale follows twins Viola and Sebastian (Lupita Nyong’o and her real-life brother Junior), who are separated in a shipwreck, and the hilarious love triangle that ensues when Viola, disguised as a man, falls for Duke Orsino (Khris Davis) but also captures the heart of Countess Olivia (Sandra Oh).
Olivia has disorder in her own star-studded court, rounded out by Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson (suitor Andrew Aguecheek), Game of Thrones‘ Peter Dinklage (as vain steward Malvolio), and Rent vet Daphne Rubin-Vega (trickster servant Maria). “Jesse, Daphne and Peter just played off of each other so beautifully,” adds Ali. “It really was the best case scenario of having a great cast who brings so much and are ready to be playful in the room.”
The timely themes covered in the bold production include immigration and gender norms. “Viola feels like she has to dress up as a man in order to succeed in this world,” notes Ali, who met the show’s Viola, Nyong’o, when the two performed in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Kenya as teenagers (she was Juliet; he was Mercucio). “It was just glorious,” he says, of their reunion here.
The set for the bold production is minimal — they weren’t sure how quickly they’d be able to move into the Delacorte after the two-year, $85 million renovation. And anyone who’s been to the famous Central Park spot knows the audience can be wild — literally. Scene-stealing raccoons are always out and about. “[People thought that] after the construction, maybe it would be raccoon-free, but actually, the absence made them multiply,” Ali says with a laugh.
Hey, bet they appreciate a good masked performance.
Great Performances: Twelfth Night, Friday, November 14, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)
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