The Coming Shakespeare Extravaganza

WSJ: Too much, or not too much: That is the question.

In 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the Bard will be everywhere. Theater companies, orchestras, cinemas and opera houses are presenting his works—and works inspired by him—in venues ranging from London and Duluth, Minn., to Tehran and South Sudan. A New Orleans jazz funeral will mark his death. The hashtag #Shakespeare400 will beckon Shakespeare-lovers on Twitter. And a publishing frenzy has already begun, with titles ranging from academic treatises to a cocktail recipe collection (“Shakespeare, Not Stirred”), to fictional adaptations by Anne Tyler, Howard Jacobson and Margaret Atwood.