Forbes.com reports that the The Public Theater held its annual gala Monday night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The evening featured The United States of Shakespeare, a one night only show marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and celebrating what Shakespeare has meant to America in the last 250 years. The evening raised $2.5 million to support The Public Theater’s programming.
Some of the celebrities who performed at the gala included: F. Murray Abraham, Kevin Kline, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, Steven Pasquale, and Sarah Amengual. Meryl Streep stole the show in the finale, hilariously spoofing Donald Trump, complete with fat suit, orange makeup, long red tie and Trump hair, in a duet of Kiss Me Kate‘s “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” with Christine Baranski.
“The Public is exactly as its name implies – the property of the people of New York,” said Oskar Eustis, The Public’s Artistic Director. “This theater and our downtown theater are owned by the people of New York. We give away 100,000 free tickets every summer to Shakespeare in the Park, to see some of the greatest actors in the Western world: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Al Pacino. It’s the best, for free. That’s what’s so wonderful about The Public.”
To read the article in its entirety, along with seeing pictures from the gala, click here.