Much Ado about Gorgeous Views in Brooklyn (plus Shakespeare in the Park!)

Today started off with some great news: I won a free lottery ticket to “Much Ado About Nothing” at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park this evening! I hadn’t read the play before, but I knew it was a comedy. Danielle Brooks from “Orange is the New Black” plays Beatrice, and the production features an all-black cast. It’s a modern-dress take set in 2020, on the eve of an election in the American South. Don Pedro is from Aragon – Aragon, Georgia, that is.

But before my very Shakespeare evening, I headed south to spend the afternoon in Brooklyn. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to DUMBO, a.k.a. Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (it’s a neighborhood in Brooklyn).

The views were gorgeous (I made sure to turn around and look back at the Manhattan skyline), and it was super sunny – and windy!

Brooklyn reminds me of Chicago because of how windy the streets are. But the hopping shoreline reminds me of England's Brighton with its eclectic mix of vendors and lively boardwalk.

I came across no fewer than three brides in DUMBO alone – it’s clearly a popular spot for wedding photos!

I didn’t go out on the water today, but the Brooklyn pier offers free kayaking on weekends that I’ll have to try at some point. There’s also a free production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” via the New York Classical Theatre in Brooklyn Bridge Park next week that sounds neat.

After spotting yet another carousel (they’re everywhere here!), I wandered through the TimeOut Market, which features everything from oysters to gourmet avocado toast. Outside the exit, I stumbled upon the New York Transit Museum’s annual Bus Festival at Brooklyn Bridge Park. It was neat to step inside some of the older models – such cushy seats! – and see all the old Broadway ads atop them (“A Chorus Line,” anyone?).

From there I wandered up Flatbrush Avenue to Prospect Park, spotting some famous Junior’s cheesecakes in a bakery window along the way.

I also passed Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.

Prospect Park is large, but not as mammoth as Central Park. You can still easily get lost in it, though, so I had to pull up a map on my phone to find my target, Smorgasburg, the largest weekly open-air food market in America. It runs in Williamsburg on Saturdays and Prospect Park on Sundays.

I splurged for a Maine-style lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the luxurious one I had inside Faneuil Hall in Boston. Oh, well – lobster is still lobster!

Some of the other notable offerings I probably need to try in the future include a ramen burger (I’ve never had one), and a place called Fluffy’s which offers neat gourmet pancake stacks like this blueberry cheesecake one (there's also an Oreo version). There are so many unique foods here!

In the evening, I headed to Shakespeare in the Park (with great views – the Q line runs overground across the East River). I knew which subway stop and park entrance I wanted, but I hadn’t had time to look at a map to see exactly where the theater was – it’s not that far in from the entrance, so I figured I could find it pretty easily. I wasn’t sure which direction to head, though, so I asked one of the hot dog vendors, who SENT ME IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. Ugh! Anyway, I realized I was going the wrong way after about five minutes, and quickly rerouted and found the tunnel to the theater area – just in time to claim my ticket before it was released to the standby line. Hooray!

The theater itself is nestled close enough to an entrance to be within easy walking distance, but far enough that you don’t hear traffic and sirens (though helicopters still make themselves known). And the theater is small enough that there really aren’t any bad seats in the house.

The play itself was engaging and easy to follow even for someone previously unfamiliar with the premise (i.e. me). I enjoyed "King Lear" yesterday, but could see where that would have been hard to follow for someone unfamiliar with the general premise (unlike me, an English grad student who's read it closely multiple times). This “Much Ado About Nothing” was all about accessibility, and featured great dancing, singing (Danielle Brooks is a Juilliard grad), and comedic timing. The actors and actresses went all out in their quest for laughs, and the audience readily complied. It was one of the funniest takes on a Shakespeare comedy I’ve seen.

Up next tomorrow night: the American Ballet Theatre’s production of Jane Eyre at the Metropolitan Opera House with Misty Copeland! Also, you know, just casually going to work at the New York Times.