Following news earlier this month that the Public Theater's wildly successful and multiply-extended
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson will move to Broadway in September, today the downtown performance palace announced that one of its current
Shakespeare in the Park productions,
The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino as Shylock, will also transfer to Broadway. Performances will begin at the Broadhurst Theatre on October 19, where Pacino will headline the limited run for 78 performances, or through January 9. The rest of the cast will be announced soon, though with such good
reviews of the current Delacorte ensemble it seems likely there won't be many substantial changes. Between this, the
Andrew Jackson transfer and another ongoing Delacorte-to-Broadway success,
Hair, the Public will surely be making good on artistic director Oskar Eustis's
hopes of being completely free in no time.