Neither rain nor raccoons, bugs or helicopters have deterred our best actors from the Delacorte. Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, James Earl Jones, Christopher Walken, Denzel Washington — pretty much the whole of the Who’s Who of American theater — have all performed in that magical space in Central Park, in the shadow of Belvedere Castle. And the tickets? Free.
And so, for the past 50 years, more than 5 million people have sat under the stars, watching the stars. Thanks to Joe Papp and the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, they’ve seen not only Shakespeare, but Brecht, Chekhov, “Hair” — and now James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s musical fairy tale, “Into the Woods,” which starts Tuesday, with Amy Adams making her Delacorte debut. Here, according to those who know, is a hint at what she’s in for.
Donna Murphy
Before her Broadway hits, the Tony winner had a small part in 1985’s “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” On the eve of her Delacorte return — as the Witch in “Into the Woods” — Murphy recalls her surprise big break:
“The company was an incredible collection of artists, theater veterans and idols of mine: George Rose, Cleo Laine . . . Betty Buckley, with that clarion voice! I initially passed on the ensemble role, but the writing was so clever and the music so rich, they roped me in. I was part of a music hall group, and we’d interact with the audience. At one point, George Rose told them to close their eyes and imagine something. I looked out at the audience and saw a bunch of people with their eyes open. Well, there’s something about the park that’s very liberating, even when you’re young in the business and in no position to ad lib. I shouted, ‘Shut yer bleedin’ peepers!’ George looked at me and gave me a wink. From then on, my character became the bigmouth in the chorus!”
Sam Waterston
The “Law & Order” star has done 10 Delacorte productions, including 1975’s “Hamlet.” He recently told The Post about “the darker days, when the park was a whole lot rougher than it is now”:
“One night, when I was doing ‘Hamlet,’ I was slow getting out of the dressing room. By the time I did, everybody else had more or less left, even the crowd. As I got out into the empty dark night, my antennae were on alert. And there, standing in the shadows at the gate that passes as the Delacorte’s stage door, was a very big guy.
“ ‘Did you play Hamlet?’ he asked. I wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing to admit, but I said yes. And he said, ‘Man, that was right off the street!’ That’s the highest compliment I’ve ever gotten.”
Jesse Tyler Ferguson
The Post caught up with the “Modern Family” star two summers ago, when he played a servant to Al Pacino’s Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice.” It was Pacino’s first time in the park, but not Ferguson’s — he did “On the Town” there in 1997, when helicopters taping a Garth Brooks concert swarmed above the stage, “and suddenly we were in ‘Miss Saigon’!” Here’s what else he recalled of “On the Town”:
“One night, it rained so heavily, they decided to skip the second-act ballet and just play the music. The stage manager said, ‘Sit back and listen to the glorious score of Leonard Bernstein,’ but it happened to be the night we had the hearing-impaired. So half the audience just looked at a blank blue stage for five minutes.”
Jonathan Groff
The “Spring Awakening” star played the park in “Hair” in 2008 and “The Bacchae” in 2009. Mother Nature nearly stopped both shows:
“I played Dionysus in ‘The Bacchae.’ I had to deliver the final moments from the top of the rafters one night while these bolts of lightning were coming down. I felt like a god — scared, but godlike. At another performance, four raccoons ran across the stage as I delivered the opening monologue. Everyone laughed. I didn’t feel godlike at all!
“But the most amazing moment was at the opening of ‘Hair.’ It threatened to rain all night, but we got [nearly] all the way through. Then, as I’m lying on the flag, dead, and the cast is singing, ‘Let the Sunshine In,’ I felt a drop of rain on my forehead. We invited the audience up onstage to join us, and it started pouring, sheets of rain, as they stood with us, singing, ‘Let the Sunshine In.’ The rain stopped, the clouds parted — and you could see the stars.”
Oliver Platt
The jocular star played the fool twice: He was Sir Toby Belch in 2002’s “Twelfth Night” and Touchstone in this summer’s “As You Like It.” And he definitely liked it:
“We’d been seeing the raccoons a lot during ‘As You Like It.’ One evening, one of them followed me when I was halfway out of the dressing room and ready to make an entrance. The park has a very serious policy about how you’re not allowed to redirect the animals. So I didn’t. This raccoon followed me stage left, and I didn’t know if he was still behind me when I walked out. Maybe he had stagefright or his house was under the steps, but he didn’t come. Talk about extra stakes on an entrance!
“But raccoons and helicopters are part of the deal. There’s a wonderful conversation between Touchstone and Corin [an elderly shepherd]. One night, when Corin asked, ‘How like you this shepherd’s life, Touchstone?’ seven police helicopters converged over the Delacorte. So I just sat there and went, ‘Hmm,’ and paused. And the audience applauded — they knew I was waiting for the helicopters to go away. The longer I waited, the louder they got. That only happens at the Delacorte.”
Off-line
Here are three ways to get “Into the Woods” inside the park this summer without the wait:
* Go online. The Public’s “virtual ticketing” lottery has a limited number of coveted seats available on each day of the show.
* Get a voucher. Two vouchers per person will get you two tickets when you redeem them at the Delacorte box office on the day of the show. Vouchers will be distributed in all five boroughs beginning Wednesday at Manhattan’s El Museo del Barrio (1230 Fifth Ave., at 104th Street).
* Pay up. If you’re feeling flush (and desperate), consider becoming a Summer Supporter: $175 gets you one reserved seat for the show — and helps underwrite Public productions to come.
For details on the lottery, voucher distribution and sponsorships, go to shakespeareinthepark.org.