SNL Alum Rachel Dratch Joins Musical Love’s Labour’s Lost in Central Park

SNL star Rachel Dratch will play the scholarly Holofernes in the Public Theater’s new musical adaptation of Love’s Labour’s Lost, which bows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park on July 23. Opening night is set for August 12, and the run—as well as this year’s Shakespeare in the Park season—officially concludes on August 18.

Dratch is best known for her seven seasons spent on Saturday Night Live (her recurring characters included Debbie Downer, Barbara Walters and Harry Potter). She appeared onstage in New York at the Minetta Lane Theatre in 2007 in Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell and has been a longtime participant of the 24 Hour Plays benefit event. Dratch also starred in the Los Angeles premiere of the musical Minsky's in 2009 opposite Christopher Fitzgerald.

Dratch joins a cast that includes Daniel Breaker (King of Navarre), Kevin Del Aguila (Dull), Colin Donnell (Berowne), Andrew Durand (Boyet), Kimiko Glenn (Maria), Jeff Hiller (Nathaniel), Rebecca Naomi Jones (Jaquenetta), Justin Levine (Moth), Patti Murin (Princess), Lucas Near-Verbrugghe (Dumaine), Bryce Pinkham (Longaville), Charlie Pollock (Costard), Caesar Samayoa (Don Armado), Maria Thayer (Rosaline) and Audrey Lynn Weston (Katherine).

Alex Timbers directs the musical production of the Bard classic, which will feature songs by Michael Friedman and a book adaptation by Timbers. The show features scenic design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Jennifer Moeller, lighting design by Jeff Croiter and sound design by Acme Sound Partners.