For this celebrated actor, there’s no better stage than Central Park’s Delacorte Theater.
“The first time I visited the Delacorte, I was with my mother, and we saw Raul Julia in Othello. I must have been twelve years old. At one point during the performance a giant white egret took flight. The image was stunning—for the play, of course, with Desdemona dying, but it was also just so insanely beautiful to be in the glow of the city, in the warm summer air, with that magnificent bird rising against the evening sky.
Since that first visit, I’ve been on the Delacorte stage many times doing Shakespeare in the Park. Once, during a particularly sinister monologue in Cymbeline, the audience started laughing, and I had no idea why. Then I looked to the side and saw a raccoon on the set just staring at me, as if he was watching the show.
I live in New York City because it’s a cultural epicenter—and at the heart of the city is Central Park, and in the heart of that park is the Delacorte. It’s one of the greatest things in the world that something so professional and expensively produced is free and offered to all New Yorkers. To me, it seems that the theater is a gift from New York to itself.”
“When I was performing in Cymbeline, I took a bike ride each day from my apartment in Nolita to Central Park. I love to ride up along the Hudson River from Houston Street to West 79th, beneath the High Line and past the Boat Basin.” The Alliance for Downtown New York offers free bike rentals through September 30 (for reservations, go to downtownny.com/bikearound).”
“Casts and crew always have an opening-night party at Belvedere Castle (mid-park at W. 81st St.; 212/772-0210; centralparknyc.org), behind the Delacorte. It’s open to the public during the day, and from there you can see most of Central Park. It’s just magical.”
“12 Chairs (56 MacDougal St.; 212/254-8640) is a little Israeli-owned restaurant where I like to have breakfast. They serve delicious Middle Eastern food—baked egg dishes; good, strong coffee—and there are exhibitions of work by young photographers.”
“The Drama Book Shop (250 W. 40th St.; 212/944-0595) is one of the best places to go for theater books, and Shakespeare & Co. (716 Broadway; 212/529-1330) is my neighborhood shop. It’s so important to support independent bookstores.”
