'As You Like It' sets full cast for Shakespeare in the Park

The musical adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy is part of the 2022 Shakespeare in the Park season.

All the world's a stage, and all these men and women are its players! Shaina Taub's musical adaptation of As You Like It, which follows Richard III in The Public Theater's 2022 Shakespeare in the Park season, has set its full cast. Performances run at the Delacorte Theater from August 10 to September 11, with an August 30 opening night.

Drama Desk Award nominee Rebecca Naomi Jones (Oklahoma!) and Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play, Long Day's Journey into Night) will lead As You Like It as Rosalind and Orlando, respectively. The complete cast also includes Taub herself as Jaques, Idania Quezada as Celia, Darius de Haas as Duke Senior, Eric Pierre as Duke Frederick, Christopher M. Ramirez as Touchstone, Brianna Cabrera as Silvia, Bianca Edwards as Phoebe, Damion Allen as William, Renrick Palmer as Oliver, Jonathan Jordan as Andy, Lori Brown-Niang as Agent/Puppet-deer, Tristan André as De Boys/Attendant, Pierre Harmony Graves as De Boys/Arden Dancer/Young Orlando Dad, Bobby Moody as De Boys/Arden Dancer, and Edwin Rivera as De Boys/Attendant.

Amar Atkins, Sean-Michael Bruno, Danyel Fulton, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Trevor McGhie, Mike Millán, Kevin Tate, and Claudia Yanez will serve as understudies. Additionally, As You Like It will feature two ensembles of actors from all five NYC boroughs, who will perform on a rotating basis.

The full creative team has also been set, including scenic designer Myung Hee Cho; costume designer Emilio Sosa; lighting designer Isabella Byrd; sound designer Sun Hee Kil; hair, wig, and makeup designer Leah Loukas; puppet designer James Ortiz; orchestrator Mike Brun; music director Andrea Grody; music coordinator Dean Sharenow; and fight director Lisa Kopitsky. As previously announced, Tony Award winner Sonya Tayeh will choreograph, with choreography restaging and additional choreography by Billy Griffin.

In Taub and Laurie Woolery's As You Like It musical, a French duke named Duke Senior and his entire court — including his daughter Rosalind, niece Celia, and court member Orlando, are exiled when Senior's brother, Duke Frederick, usurps the throne. They escape to the Forest of Arden and discover a more welcoming community "of acceptance and transformational love." While there, Rosalind, dressed as a man to escape Frederick's court, counsels Orlando on love when he confesses his feelings for Rosalind, unaware that it's her and that she has fallen for him, too.

Woolery directs the show, which first premiered in Central Park in 2017 through the Public Theater's Public Works program, dedicated to performing free Shakespeare shows around New York for the community.

All As You Like It tickets are free and will be distributed through a variety of in-person and digital channels each performance day.