Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Public Works’ production of PERICLES is buoyed by Troy Anthony’s gloriously uplifting score and a starry cast

• By drediman
• September 2, 2025
• No Comments

Last night, I had the great pleasure of attending Public Works’ presentation of Shakespeare’s Pericles, featuring a score by Troy Anthony. Given the ongoing performances of Free Shakespeare in the Park’s sparkling production of Twelfth Night at the newly renovated Delacorte Theatre in Central Park, this iteration of Public Works — whose productions have been historically staged at the Delacorte — has been relocated to the massive Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in upper Manhattan. Typically, Public Works’ accessibly truncated musical adaptations of Shakespeare have been the perfect way to officially close out the summer, and Anthony’s take on Pericles is absolutely no different (past productions have included well received adaptations of As You Like It and The Tempest).

Presented as a semi-staged concert, the focus of the adaptation has been put squarely on Anthony’s gloriously uplifting, often raucously boisterous gospel score, which calls to mind such musicals as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat (in its brevity and light touch) and Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus (in its cathartic use of gospel music). With no less than 19 songs, the show is equally told through both Anthony and Shakespeare’s voice. Although the two may not completely align stylistically — the same can be said of the incorporation of various residents and organizations across New York’s five boroughs — their collective heart is emphatically in the same place in the telling of the voluptuous adventures of a much maligned king and his estranged family — in many ways the encapsulation of the gamut of the human experience. The decision to stage Pericles at St. John the Divine is an inspired one, and director Carl Cofield has conjured a production that seems like an attempt at a hybrid between theater and the ritualism of church services, which works beautifully for the episodic construction of the material (kudos also for the impressive crowd control).

Across the board, the starry principal cast act and sing exceptionally, especially for a production with such a brief run (the final performance is tonight). Leading the way in the title role is the handsome Ato Blankson-Wood, who gives a grounded, deeply human portrayal despite the animated flurry that often surrounds him. As his wife and queen Thaisa, stage and screen star Denée Benton impresses with a mature and regal performance that is a step forward from her ingenue work in such musicals as The Great Comet and Into the Woods. But perhaps best of all is Crystal Lucas-Perry as Gower, who is essentially the narrator of the production. The performance is irresistibly authoritative and abundant in charisma; Lucas-Perry is the affirmative glue that holds the whole ecstatic (and occasionally erratic) affair together. Rounding out the cast are the luminous Amina Faye as Pericles’ daughter Marina and the big-voiced Alex Newell as a show-stopping Diana.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

PERICLES
Off-Broadway, Musical
The Public Theater / Public Works at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
2 hours (without an intermission)
Through September 2