The Public Theater
Located at 425 Lafayette Street at Astor Place, The Public Theater strives to produce "theater of, by, and for the people." They are pioneers in producing new plays and musicals that are inclusive and push the boundaries of conventional theater. Their theater-for-all mission began with their founder, the "indomitable showman" Joseph Papp.
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In 1954, Papp began to stage free Shakespeare performances in a Lower East Side church, before moving these performances outdoors with the blessing of the New York City Parks department. The New York Shakespeare Festival was born, with a mobile unit that toured the five boroughs of New York City giving performances. In 1959, Papp famously won a battle with the Parks Department over keeping the performances free. The next year, Central Park's Delacorte Theater was constructed.
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The NYSF moved downtown in 1966, to a second, and permanent, home in the space where the Astor Library once stood; He turned the old stacks into six theaters, and the new space became known as The New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater.
A letter from Robert Moses, commissioner of the City of New York Parks Department, to Joseph Papp, giving him permission to begin the mobile Shakespeare in the Park program.
(Letter c/o the NYSF Archives at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)
c/o The Public Theater Digital Dramaturgy
Productions at The Public
Since its inception, The Public Theater has been producing works that didn't typically conform to the standards of that time. Beginning with Hair in 1967, The Public has been the first home to a few musicals that broke barriers and continually changed the face of musical theater.
Hair, 1967
Book and Lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado
Music by Galt MacDermott
Hair opened the The Public Theater's Astor Place location, as the first show to play the Anspacher Theater, and the first non-Shakespeare production for the NYSF. It ran for 49 performances from October-December 1967. Audiences loved the show, but Papp had no intentions of transferring it to Broadway. Following its closing at the Anspacher, the show had a second run at a club in Midtown Manhattan, Cheetah. The show eventually did transfer to Broadway, opening at the Biltmore Theater on April 29, 1968 and closed after 1750 performances.
Hair was a groundbreaking musical, especially given the time period. One-third of the original Broadway cast was was African American, and the performers were given the opportunity to let loose on stage and be themselves. The protest and anti-war themes in Hair were very real at the time; the musical contains a scene in which characters burn their Vietnam War draft cards during a "Be-In" gathering. There is no shying away from explicit drug use. Perhaps the most progressive thing to come from Hair is the treatment of sexuality on stage. Act one closes with a scene in which the cast is on stage, standing together, completely nude. “It was a cry for freedom, and it reflected the reality of what was happening," said James Rado.
c/o the Billy Rose Theatre Collection, New York Public Library
A Chorus Line, 1975
A Chorus Line was conceived by Michael Bennett in 1974. He gathered a group of Broadway dancers for a midnight session; he brought along a tape recorder and the group talked for hours. Each of the dancers sold their stories for $1, and Bennett took the recordings to Joseph Papp with the hopes that Papp and The Public would produce the show. A Chorus Line went through two workshops before opening at The NYSF Public Theater's Newman Theater on May 21, 1975. In a relatively quick turnaround, A Chorus Line opened at Broadway's Shubert Theater on July 25, 1975. The Public Theater continued to produce the show on Broadway and made a great amount of money from the profits. A Chorus Line ran for 15 years, before closing on April 28, 1990, after 6.137 performances. It is still the sixth longest running musical in Broadway history.
Conceived by Michael Bennett
Book by Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood
Lyrics by Edward Kleban
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
A Chorus Line brought a new kind of musical to the stage. It perfected the "concept musical" form. In concept musicals, "emphasis is placed upon style, message, and thematic metaphor rather than on the plot itself." A Chorus Line is groundbreaking for many of the themes it presented to audiences. The show deals with race and sexuality in a very candid way. Greg and Paul are both openly gay characters on the line, and neither skirts around their experiences, Greg's significantly more comedic than Paul's. It was also one of the first shows to focus on the ensemble as real people, rather than a collective entity that backs the star. The stories that are told on stage are the real stories of these real people in the chorus, finally given a voice.
Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, 1996
Conceived by George C. Wolfe
Book by Reg E. Gaines
Music by Ann Duquesnay, Zane Mark and Darryl Waters
Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk was conceived by The Joseph Papp Public Theater's artistic director at the time, George C. Wolfe. It opened at the Public Theater's Newman Theater on November 3, 1995, and transferred to Broadway's Ambassador Theater for an April 25, 1996 opening. The show played 1135 performances before closing on January 10, 1999.
Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk is also a concept musical, a revue-style musical that tells a story through tap dancing. Performed by an all African-American cast, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk is a history of America through the eyes of African-Americans. Variety's review cited the history as "often painful," and the musical did make sure to depict that on stage. The story begins on slave ships, with the cast cramped together the way people often were on slave ships. Using tap dancing, it even shows the beginnings of that style of dance. There is also a pantomimed lynching. The history lesson moves around a lot, making stops at the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Power movement of the 1960's.
Caroline, Or Change, 2003
Book and lyrics by Tony Kushner
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Caroline, Or Change was first workshopped at The Public in 1992. The artistic director at the time, George C. Wolfe, continued to workshop the piece until producing its world premiere production at The Public's Newman Theater. Shortly after closing at the Newman, Caroline, Or Change opened on Broadway, at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. It opened on May 2, 2004, and closed on August 29, 2004 after 136 performances.
Caroline, Or Change is another musical that deals with race on stage in ways it isn't typically depicted. The fictional plot, about a Jewish family and their black maid living in Louisiana during the Civil Rights era, is supplemented by real historical events - the assassination of JFK, the rise to prominence of Martin Luther King, Jr., and a subplot that is more timely than ever in 2017, about tearing down a Confederate statue outside a courthouse.
Fun Home, 2013
Book and lyrics by Lisa Kron
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Before its world premiere production, Fun Home was performed at The Public three times; a staged reading, a workshop, and a short run as part of their Public Lab series. On October 22, 2013, the first fully staged production opened at The Public's Newman Theater. It closed in January of 2014, and opened on Broadway over a year later, on April 19, 2015 at the Circle In The Square Theater. It closed on September 10, 2016 after 583 performances.
Fun Home is based on the graphic novel memoir of cartoonist Alison Bechdel. It is the first mainstream musical about a lesbian protagonist, dealing with her coming out arc, in addition to the one her father never really gets - he was gay, and he committed suicide while Alison was in college. The musical portrays all of this on stage, using Bechdel's memoir to guide the narrative. It uses storytelling to tell Alison's life story through her own eyes at three different stages of her life. Different actresses play her at ages 8, 19 and 42. All three connect to tell a beautiful but tragic story in a distinctive way.
Hamilton, 2015
Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
It's currently the hottest ticket on Broadway, but Hamilton had its start at The Public Theater, overseen by current Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. The production opened at the Newman Theater on February 17, 2015. By July, it had moved uptown to the Richard Rodgers Theater, for an August 6, 2015 opening.
Like The Public Theater-produced-musicals that came before it, Hamilton is a true game changer for musical theater. The style is unprecedented and the manner in which it's presented is unconventional, but makes a bold statement - something The Public Theater has a long history of doing. Hamilton tells the story of the first secretary of state, Alexander Hamilton in a sung-through style based mostly in rap and R&B music. The founding fathers are also exclusively played by men of color, something they were very much not in real life. "This is America then told by America now," says creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. It doesn't change the story everyone learns in their history classes, but it presents it in a new and exciting way.
c/o the Lortel Archives
c/o the Lortel Archives
The Public Theater Today
The work of the Public Theater today is still very in-line with that of Joseph Papp and his mission of theater for all. Under the artistic direction of Oskar Eustis since 2005, The Public both keeps traditions alive and historicizes itself.
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In 2008, as the 40th anniversary of Hair approached, Eustis revived the musical for a series of outdoor performances at the Delacorte Theater; these few performances turned into a lengthened run there, which led to a successful Broadway transfer.
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The Public Theater still keeps true to its roots by sending out a mobile unit each fall and spring to perform Shakespeare plays across the five boroughs of New York City, just as Papp had done before the Astor Place theaters had even become a reality.