YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY WHAT YOU WILL

While we are still grappling with questions of gender, identity, and societal roles like troglodytes, we need to remember that Shakespeare was exploring these human complexities with intelligence, nuance, and humor over 400 years ago. In Twelfth Night, written around 1601, he crafted a brilliant pastiche of mistaken identities, cross-dressing, and romantic entanglements that challenged the boundaries of gender and the fluidity of identity. The play has been a hit ever since. Now, The Public Theater Associate Artistic Director Saheem Ali brings new life to this masterpiece at Central Park’s refurbished Delacorte Theater, part of Free Shakespeare in the Park.

The production is magnificent.

I am not exaggerating; I was hooked from the very beginning when Moses Sumney, as Feste the Fool, walked on stage and hypnotized all of us with his elegance, commanding stage presence, and richly textured voice. Sumney sings, jokes, slips between scenes like truth in disguise so fluidly, so effortlessly, it’s almost hard to believe this is his theatrical debut. His acting is nothing short of flawless. He is accompanied by a live quartet (Maria Im and Caroline Cassio on violin; Tia Allen on viola; and Angelique Montes on cello) and together they welcome us to this 1600 extravaganza.

At the heart of the story is Viola (Lupita Nyong’o), Shakespeare’s most competent romantic lead. Shipwrecked and stranded in Illyria, she is suddenly a poor illegal immigrant woman who lost her twin brother at sea. But she responds to adversity and danger in the most practical way possible: she cross-dresses and gets a job as a male servant to a Count. Nyong’o’s Viola is cool, grounded, and sharp; she spends most of the play holding back an entire cast of love-sick aristocrats, drunkards, and one hilariously self-important steward, Malvolio.

Played successfully and charmingly by Peter Dinklage, Malvolio is smug, joyless, and absurdly convinced of his own sexual appeal. His delusion that Olivia (a superb Sandra Oh) is in love with him is made all the more tragic by the fact that Olivia, when she is not mourning her brother, spends most of her energy throwing herself at “Cesario”, a.k.a. Viola in drag.

Meanwhile, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Sir Toby Belch (John Ellison Conlee) operate as the drunk uncles during Thanksgiving dinner: loud, embarrassing, but essential to the party. They serve no noble purpose, unless you count public intoxication and pranks as civic duties. Ferguson and Conlee are hysterical every single time they appear, the perfect comedic duo with impeccable timing and irresistible chemistry. Together with Maria (a consummate Daphne Rubin-Vega), the stealth mastermind of the group, they orchestrate Malvolio’s glorious downfall, and by “glorious” I mean unhinged, mean-spirited, but absolutely worth it for Dinklage’s performance alone.

Romance in Twelfth Night is like a random game of Elizabethan Tinder. Olivia falls for Viola, thinking she’s a man. Count Orsino (Khris Davis, perfect as the melodramatic rich hunk) first loves Olivia but then falls for Viola, thinking she’s a man but in a very “I’m not questioning anything” sort of way. Sebastian (Junior Nyong’o), Viola’s twin lost during the shipwreck (and Lupita’s younger brother) shows up in a few scenes and ends up married to Olivia before he has had time to unpack. Antonio (b), noble sea captain and patron saint of unrequited loyalty, follows Sebastian around Illyria like a dog, obviously in love with him. The only two characters who do not play the love game are servants Fabian (Kapil Talwalkar) who helps prank Malvolio but mostly serves as Illyria’s voice of reason; Curio (Ariyan Kassam) who survives with his dignity intact; and the funny priest (Joe Tapper).

Each of the actors delivers wonderful performances, everyone a standout in their own right, but credit must also go to the creative team whose vision and precision turn brilliance into a fully realized world. Maruti Evans’ scenic design brings a sense of playful magic to the stage. When I arrived and saw the massive, three-dimensional sign in bold red serif letters proclaiming “WHAT YOU WILL” as the background, I braced myself for yet another hyper-minimalist production cloaked in conceptual austerity. Instead, this clever proscenium-style stage is full of visual surprises which I won’t spoil here because their delight lies precisely in their unexpected (and highly amusing) arrival.

Oana Botez’s costumes are bold, quirky, and chaotic, individual as the characters themselves. Yet, against all odds, they harmonize beautifully. A huge part of that alchemy is thanks to Krystal Balleza, whose artistry in hair, wigs, and makeup complete each look. Bradley King’s lighting shifts flawlessly from sun-drenched comedy to moonlit melancholy, shaping the emotional rhythm of each scene. Palmer Hefferan and Kai Harada share sound design duties in a difficult outdoor venue, and their work is as crisp as a chilled Sardinian Vermentino on a summer night, just like Michael Thurber’s music, the soul of the production, an effortless cool mix tailored to serve narrative and mood.

Darrell Grand Moultrie’s choreography breathes rhythm into the entire show and even the transitions feel like dance, while Thomas Schall, the fight director, keeps the scuffles charming. And let’s not forget Karishma Bhagani, whose work as dialect coach adds a gorgeous and grounding cultural texture. Because, sometimes, Lupita and Junior deliver their lines in Swahili, a language that sounds like music, but don’t worry if the words escape you; the actors’ expressions and movements convey everything with clarity. It’s subtle but powerful.

Twelfth Night wasn’t entirely original in 1601; Shakespeare borrowed elements from earlier Italian comedies (Commedia dell’Arte) and folk tales involving twins, shipwrecks, and mistaken identities, but his genius was adding unforgettable characters and witty language that made it timeless. In Elizabethan times, male actors had to convincingly portray female characters. With Viola, the Bard gives us a “man playing woman playing man” situation, and the play is altogether a not-too-subtle nudge at the complexities of desire and identity. It is pure chaos and yet, for all its absurdity, it is sneakily insightful.

Shakespeare gives us joy and a wink; Saheem Ali honors that spirit with a staging that is fresh, unique, and wildly entertaining. I know that scoring Free Shakespeare in the Park tickets may feel like Hercules’ unwritten 13th labor, but this Twelfth Night makes every heroic effort worthwhile.

The wonderful ensemble includes: Jaina Rose Jallow, Valentino Musumeci, Precious Omigie, Chinna Palmer, Nathan M. Ramsey, Dario Alvarez, Jasmine Sharma, Joe Tapper, Julian Tushabe, Adrian Villegas, Ada Westfall, and Mia Wurgaft.

photos by Joan Marcus