Shakespeare in the Park Will Be Just As You Like It This Summer

By Andrea Arnold On Mar 8, 2024

The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival will feature two vastly different plays this summer — with the comedic As You Like It featured at Forest Park and the weird and wild tragicomedy The Tempest in 24 different parks around the region.

Everybody’s favorite outdoor theatrical experience, Shakespeare in the Park, kicks off As You Like It in Shakespeare Glen on Wednesday, May 29. Opening night will be Friday, May 31, with performances Tuesday through Sunday nights through June 23.

As is typical for the festival, this won’t be your Grandma’s conception of Shakespeare; the press release says that director Nancy Bell’s production will include songs both old and new from local singer-songwriter Beth Bombara and a “lavish Guilded Age setting.”

Other highlights in the season announced this morning include the Confluence New Play Festival (April 12 to 14); TourCo, a tour of The Tempest directed by St. Louis Shakespeare Festival Producing Artistic Director Tom Ridgely, which will be mounted in 24 different parks across Missouri and Illinois (July 30 to August 25) and the return of Christmas Carol: The Remix (November 29 to December 22), starring the Q Brothers.

Ridgely said in a press release that he he sees momentum going into the 2024 season, noting that festival audiences have returned to pre-COVID levels. Attendance for last year’s Twelfth Night production was the highest since 2018. He said, “As You Like It is the quintessential park show, and Nancy Bell is St. Louis’s quintessential theater artist. We’re over the moon that she’s making her directorial debut in the Glen and can’t wait to hear it paired with live original music by St. Louis’s favorite singer-songwriter, Beth Bombara.”

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