The Park

Last year we enjoyed one the summer's first long walks around The Great Lawn in Central Park. Between trees and picnics lies one of the park's lonely wide open spaces: 6 or 7 softball fields stretching over perfectly manicured grass. The teams vary in shape and size from 10 year old girls to beer guzzling men well past their prime but a spectator can always find entertainment. On weekends the grass is abuzz with families dining on homemade sandwhiches while their kids play chase and tag and all of childhood's best games. The scene looks like it was pulled straight out of a J Crew catalog and it quickly became one of very favorite places to walk and talk and take in the sunlight.

On that first walk around the space we strolled right into a queue of families lining halfway around the grass from a large wooden stadium that somehow fits in amongst all the trees. They were waiting for one of Central Park's summer wonders, Shakespeare in the Park. My first thought was that each of them were bloody crazy, standing in the often unbearable heat of the summer sweating away the day in wait of a play.

This year when my wife persistently suggested we do the same I am sure a look of terror filled my face. While I often mouth off about the silly Yankees complaining about their 90 degree summer heat I am less than eager to join their ranks waiting underneath the sun. But luck was on our side as this year, just rounding out our first full year in the city, is the first in which a selection of tickets are offered online. For the few us unwilling to queue up with the rest of the city's Shakespeare patrons an option now exists. Not that I have ever been a fan of London's finest export. Cliff Notes are the closest I ever came to reading one of the plays but only a loon passes up a chance for free entertainment.

After leaving work we met my sister for some of Gray's Papaya's finest cuisine and headed over to the park just in time to smile at the quickly forming line and collect our online tickets. A short stroll around the softball players and they let us in to the wooden theater. I spent my normal pre play minutes sifting through the Playbill articles and trying to figure out just how long Hamlet is (the answer is quite long, we left well into the night).

For a free play the atmosphere is quite a bit of fun, as a large stadium enveloping a well lit stage is the last thing you would expect to find in the ocean of trees that make up Central Park. I went expecting to find burned out college actors who missed their chance at the Broadway plays and was deeply surprised by the quality of Actors. Sam Waterstone of Law and Order fame filled out the cast along with a host of other recognizable faces. Every aspect was first class and I still cannot puzzle out how they do it without charging. Despite my previous assurances that I could not enjoy 3 hours of theeing and thowing I left my seats grinning stupidly at the end. It was quite a bit of fun.