SOURCE: "Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' in Central Park," in The New York Times, July 3, 1986, p. C22.

Given Wilford Leach's record for brightening so many al fresco evenings with Shakespeare, as well as The Pirates of Penzance and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, anticipation about Twelfth Night was as high as the Belvedere Castle that shadows the hospitable Delacorte Theater. In addition, the show was headlined by that Oscar-winning actor, F. Murray Abraham, turning to Shakespeare and returning to comedy in the choice role of Malvolio.

Sad to say, almost everything is awry in this Illyria. It is not a question of liberties taken but of abandonment of the play's essential nature as one of the most irresistible of Shakespeare's comedies. Productions have, of course, artfully departed from, or reinterpreted the original text. Last season, for example, Twelfth Night was pleasurably transformed into a Cole Porter party by Mark Lamos...