Can’t snag Shakespeare in the Park tix this summer? PBS will air Twelfth Night starring Lupita Nyong'o, Peter Dinklage

Shakespeare in the Park is one of the most storied cultural events in New York City, but good luck snagging tickets. Even if you live in one of the buildings along Central Park (in which case, don’t hog the free tickets from the rest of us, OK?), the process of getting seats is a long and physically arduous one, entailing a box office line that forms at dawn the day of performance. (There is, thankfully, the digital lottery now as well, but you know what lotteries can be like.)

This year is a particularly buzzy one, as the Delacorte Theater reopens with Twelfth Night after a two-year renovation. And to make it even more special, PBS announced that it will air the production this fall as part of its Great Performances series, giving not just disappointed New Yorkers but the entire country the chance to see Lupita Nyong’o, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Peter Dinklage, and Sandra Oh star in William Shakespeare’s cross-dressing comedy classic.

RECOMMENDED: Free outdoor theater this summer in New York

Twelfth Night will premiere on PBS at 9pm ET on Friday, November 14. Trimmed down to a delightful 90 minutes by director Sahem Ali, the production’s cast also includes Daphne Rubin-Vega, Junior Nyong'o, b, Khris Davis, John Ellison Conlee, Ariyan Kassam, Valentino Musumeci, Moses Sumney, Kapil Talwalker and Joe Tapper.

PBS’s Great Performances series this year also includes several more offerings that should thrill theater lovers. The series premieres October 3 with the documentary The Magic of Grace Bumbry, about the first Black opera singer to perform at the White House, followed November 7 by The Tiler Peck Story: Suspending Time, about the ballerina (most recently seen on Prime Video’s series Etoile).

A live capture of the Carnegie Hall concert The Great War and The Great Gatsby will premiere on November 11, Veterans’ Day, a fitting choice for a concert that uses The Great Gatsby to explore World War I. And Dick Van Dyke takes center stage December 12 with Starring Dick Van Dyke, an American Masters episode celebrating the beloved entertainer’s 100th birthday, featuring rare footage. And December 16 sees the premiere of the English National Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.