Delacorte Theater

The Delacorte Theater is a 1,800-seat open-air amphitheater in Central Park, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is home to the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park productions.

Delacorte Theater

The theater in 2021
Address	Central Park Manhattan, New York United States
Coordinates	40°46′48.36″N 73°58′7.56″W
Owner	City of New York
Operator	Public Theater
Capacity	1,800
Opened	June 18, 1962[1]
Tenants
Shakespeare in the Park

Over five million people have attended more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals at the Delacorte Theater since its opening in 1962.^[2] The theater was closed for renovation between 2023 and 2025.

History

1958–1962: Development

Joseph Papp ran a Shakespeare festival starting in 1954. Papp's group had been touring New York's boroughs on temporary staging, including presenting at Central Park. Papp's group was well-regarded, and he started seeking funds in 1958 for a permanent outdoor amphitheater in Central Park, with the aid of Helen Hayes. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses was opposed to the project. However, Moses was replaced by Newbold Morris in 1960, who was much more positive toward the creation of a theater.

The city government decided to go forward with the project, and the Board of Estimate approved $250,000 in funds for construction, with Park Department architects designing the original theater. The theater had been planned to open in 1961. However, the funds ran dry with the theater unfinished. Morris talked with his friend George T. Delacorte Jr., president of the Dell Publishing company. Delacorte, a fan of Shakespeare, agreed to fund the remaining $150,000 to finish construction of the theater, which was named in honor of him and his wife Valerie in gratitude.^[3] The theater was built on the site of an old Croton Aqueduct reservoir.^[4]

Delays from changes in design, a construction strike, as well as procuring the required funds from Delacorte pushed the opening back to 1962. The first production at the theater was in June 1962 with The Merchant of Venice, starring George C. Scott and James Earl Jones.^[5] The theater originally had 2,300 seats;^[3] at some point, the number of seats was reduced to make the experience less overcrowded for the audience.

Festival Latino (1976–1991)

Festival Latino (1976–1991), "the largest festival of Hispanic culture in the history of North America", was run by Oscar Ciccione and Cecilia Vega, producing Spanish-language shows every August at the Delacorte Theater.

21st century

In 2012 the Public celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Delacorte with a gala and a one-night only reading of Romeo and Juliet starring numerous past performers. Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline read the lead roles.^[6] By the 2010s, the theater was in poor shape. The bleachers were leaky and crowded, while the backstage areas were covered only by tarps; some actors refused to perform at the Delacorte due to the bad conditions there.^[4]

2023–2025 renovation

In 2018, the Public announced plans for the first major renovation of the Delacorte.^[7][8] They cited several goals for the renovation: better accessibility for disabled patrons and performers, improved backstage flow and operations, a new facade, replacement of the stage floor due to exposure and weather damage to the original deck, and better lighting.^[9] Bjarke Ingels was originally hired to redesign the theater, which was intended to cost $110 million.^[7][8] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public indicated that it did not want to spend as much money on the renovation.^[4] As such, the Public hired Ennead Architects, which had previously redesigned the Astor Library Building,^[4] to renovate the Delacorte.^[10][11] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the plans in January 2022.^[12][13]

The Delacorte closed for renovation in September 2023^[14][15] after the final show of the summer 2023 season, a musical version of The Tempest, closed.^[16] The renovation was expected to take around 18 months, with the theater planned to reopen in time for the summer 2025 season.^[14][17] As part of the renovation, the theater was rebuilt with wood recycled from water towers atop apartment buildings in New York City.^[18] The theater was rebuilt in a conical shape, and the backstage facilities were also refurbished to accommodate a higher number of performances.^[4] The renovated theater reopened on July 15, 2025,^[19][20] having cost $85 million to rebuild.^[4][20]

Productions

• 2022 — 'Richard III'
• 2018 — 'Twelfth Night'
• 2007 — Romeo & Juliet
• 2000 — The Winter's Tale
• 1995 — The Tempest
• 1994 — The Merry Wives of Windsor
• 1993 — Measure for Measure
• 1993 — All's Well That Ends Well

The 2007 season productions were Romeo and Juliet, directed by Michael Greif, who directed Rent, and A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring Jon Hill and Mallory Portnoy.^[21]

The 2008 season began with Hamlet (27 May – 29 June), with Michael Stuhlbarg in the title role, under the Public Theater's Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. Sam Waterston, who played Hamlet the last time the tragedy was presented at the Theater (1975), played Polonius. The second presentation was James Rado's, Gerome Ragni's, and Galt MacDermot's Hair (22 July – 14 September) led by Jonathan Groff and Will Swenson.^[22] Christopher J. Hahnke took over the role of Claude when Mr. Groff left to film "Taking Woodstock". Hair made its original debut in October 1967 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, the initial presentation of the theater.

The 2009 season began with Twelfth Night (June 9 – July 12), with Anne Hathaway playing Viola, and Euripides' The Bacchae (August 11 to September 6), with music by Philip Glass.^[23]

The 2010 season (June 9 – August 1) featured The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale performed in repertory.^[24] Al Pacino starred as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, but a conflict with rehearsals prevented him from participating in The Winter's Tale.^[25] The repertory plays also featured Jesse Tyler Ferguson (as Solanio in Merchant and Young Shepard in The Winter’s Tale); Jesse L. Martin (Gratiano/Polixenes); Lily Rabe (Portia/First Gentlewoman); Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Prince of Morocco/Leontes); and Max Wright (Old Gobbo/Old Shepherd). Daniel Sullivan directed Merchant of Venice, and Michael Greif directed The Winter’s Tale.

The 2011 season (June 6 – July 31) featured All's Well That Ends Well, directed by Daniel Sullivan, and Measure for Measure, directed by David Esbjornson running in repertory on alternate evenings.^[26][27] The repertory cast features John Cullum, Danai Gurira, Michael Hayden, Annie Parisse, Tonya Pinkins, Lorenzo Pisoni, and Reg Rogers.

The 2012 season celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Delacorte Theater, featuring Lily Rabe and Oliver Platt in Shakespeare's As You Like It directed by Daniel Sullivan and Amy Adams and Donna Murphy in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods, a transfer of an outdoor production done in Regent's Park in London in 2010. The season also featured a one-night only reading of Romeo and Juliet starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the two lead roles, supported by Phylicia Rashad, Sam Waterston, Sandra Oh, Bill Irwin, Christine Baranski, John Cullum, Raúl Esparza, Jesse L. Martin, Jerry Stiller, Christopher Walken, David Harbour, and others.

The 2013 season began with The Comedy of Errors, directed by Dan Sullivan and featuring Shakespeare in the Park alumni Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Dromio and Hamish Linklater as Antipholus. Ferguson and Linklater last performed together in The Winter's Tale and The Merchant of Venice in 2010 for The Public's Shakespeare in the Park. The second show of the 2013 season was a new musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, directed by Alex Timbers with songs by Michael Friedman, and book adaptation by Alex Timbers. Timbers and Friedman last collaborated on the award-winning musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at The Public and Timbers directed the new David Byrne musical Here Lies Love that spring at The Public's downtown home at Astor Place.^[28]

The 2014 season featured Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe and John Lithgow all in starring roles. Linklater and Rabe took on the witty love-match of Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing while Lithgow tackled the title role in Shakespeare's King Lear.^[29]

Ticketing

Tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are free and are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park at 1:00 p.m. the day of the show. Since 2007, The Public Theater has offered free tickets through Virtual Ticketing, available at www.shakespeareinthepark.org.

Virtual Ticketing is an online lottery system in which users can win tickets to Shakespeare in the Park without waiting in line in person. On the day of a show, users can log on to www.shakespeareinthepark.org anytime between midnight and 1:00 p.m. to register for that evening’s performance. After 1:00 p.m. that same day, users can log on to see if they have received tickets through Virtual Ticketing; recipients will also be sent a confirmation email by 5:00 p.m. if they have

Participants with a Virtual Ticketing confirmation can claim their tickets at the Delacorte Theater Box Office between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. that evening. Any tickets not picked up by 7:00 p.m. will be released to the standby line. A valid photo ID is required for all Virtual Ticketing pick-ups at the box office.

Another ticket option is Senior Virtual Ticketing; it functions the same way as the regular Virtual Ticketing but registrants must be 65 or older to be eligible and must present valid photo ID with proof of age.

Borough Distribution: In addition to the ticket line at the Delacorte Theater and Virtual Ticketing online, a limited number of vouchers for specific performances will be distributed at locations throughout New York’s five boroughs (remaining performances listed below). Each person in line is allowed two vouchers and each voucher is good for one ticket for that evening’s performance. Vouchers must be exchanged for tickets at the Delacorte Theater Box Office that same day from 4:00–7:30 p.m.