The summer’s hottest touring act is drawing crowds in all 50 states and travels under the tightest security. No, it’s not Beyoncé — it’s a centuries-old book.
Published in 1623, Shakespeare’s First Folio contains 36 plays (all of his known surviving works except “Pericles” and “The Two Noble Kinsmen”). Weighing nearly 5 pounds, it hit the road in January, working its way around the country this year to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.
Now it’s our turn, with the New-York Historical Society presenting the First Folio through July 17.
Actually, we’re getting one of 18 traveling copies, all on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, which owns 82. Each bound volume visits two to four cities, traveling in a custom-built case “to protect it from all kinds of natural and not-so-natural disasters,” says Folger coordinator Maribeth Cote.
The Folio — the first published collection of Shakespeare’s plays — is opened to the “To be or not to be” soliloquy from “Hamlet.”
“That decision was fought over for a very long time,” Cote says. “In the end, it’s the most iconic speech. Even if you’ve never heard of Shakespeare, somehow you know that phrase.”
And the Folio’s appeal transcends generations. One Florida middle-school group drove four hours to see the book. “They were there at 10 a.m., so you can imagine at what time they must have left,” Cote says.
Extra attractions have also popped up at each tour stop. Here we can look forward to a “Heroes and Heroines” panel on Sunday, with actress Cush Jumbo, now starring in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of “The Taming of the Shrew,” and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Even so, maybe some enterprising New Yorkers will find other ways to celebrate the Folio: Seattle had rowdy “Bard in a bar” productions, and in New Orleans a brass band led a funeral parade for Shakespeare.
“Heroes and Heroines: Women in Shakespeare and Lessons for Today’s Leaders” is at the New-York Historical Society on Sunday at 5 p.m.; 170 Central Park West; 212-873-3400, $44.