Free Shakespeare Shows Coming To Upper East Side Park This Summer

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — It's not Shakespeare in the Park, but Shakespeare in a park — free performances of one of the Bard's best-known works are coming to Carl Schurz Park later this summer.

The Upper East Side park will host six nights of performances of "King Lear" from July 20–25, organized by the NY Classical Theatre.

Running Tuesday–Sunday at 7 p.m., it is one of four productions of Lear that the company is staging this summer, joining other weeklong shows in Downtown Brooklyn, Central Park and the Financial District.

Attendance will be limited for social distancing, so guests must RSVP online before the show.

Notably, the production will be based on the 1681 adaptation by Nahum Tate, in which Shakespeare's tragic ending is replaced by a happier one that "lets our well-meaning royal live and let live," organizers said.

This happy ending, in fact, was the most frequently performed version until the 1840s, when Shakespeare's original was revived, according to the Classical Theatre.

Directed by Classical Theatre founder Stephen Burdman, the show's cast includes John Michalski as Lear, Connie Castanzo as Cordelia, Aryana Sedarati as Regan and Jasminn Johnson as Goneril.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in Shakespeare at the Park at the Delacorte Theatre: that production, "Merry Wives," will run from July 6–Sept. 18.

Read more about the Carl Schurz Park performances and find other information about the show at the NY Classical Theatre website.