New York Magazine has a preview of the Costume Institute’s upcoming “Superheroes” exhibit (opens next week). Now, this could be a really interesting show. It all depends on how they the (increasingly inadequate) space for the concepts and themes they are trying to exhibit.

The last show I went to at the Costume Institute was blog.mode - a great disappointment but I think it was a poorly thought out concept implemented by people who only half understood what “the kids” were telling them about tech, blogs and the like. It couldn’t be just about the clothes and that left the show coordinators floundering. This is straightforward fashion and influence so they should be able to wrap their pashmina shawls around it more effectively.

Speaking of events, It’s getting to be time to start thinking about Shakespeare in the Park. This year’s productions are Hair - which I personally never saw or saw the point of (though I like the soundtrack well enough) and Hamlet - which I personally swore off of long ago when I realized I’d seen more productions of the Dithering Dane than I had seen years on this earth (but which for Sam Waterston and Andre Braugher I would gladly break that oath). And what’s this? Lauren Ambrose? Again? Well, it wasn’t her fault that last year’s Romeo and Juliet sucked eggs but the megalith of non-chemistry she had with Romeo didn’t help. Here’s hoping her Ophelia fares better. Jay O. Sanders as Ghost, Gravedigger, and Player King makes me happy because hello? A highlight in Midsummer last year.

But here’s the really SHOCKING thing — Shakespeare in the Park is now going to to give tickets away online. According to the article in Playbill:

With the new virtual line, the Public allows individuals who are registered at the Public Theater website to log on and submit a day-of request for tickets beginning at 12 AM ET. Each individual entry is able to request up to two tickets for that day’s performance. At 1 PM registered users can log on to the Public website to see if their names have been randomly selected. The day-of tickets will be held at the Delacorte box office. However, most tickets will still be allotted to the legions who line up in Central Park the day of each show; only “a limited number” will go the online route.

Now, this might be temporary and for only this year to make up for the fact that they aren’t giving tickets away at Lafayette Street this year (due to construction) but I can see it taking hold and being made permanent. I personally love the whole “wait on line experience” and am glad that they are still focusing on the Central Park line as the main ticket venue - but I bet as the virtual thing gets more popular, they’ll shift. Not this year - maybe not next… but eventually. I’d hate to see the “line” go the way of the do-do bird. It’s such a New York thing.