This Dane is not melancholy, intellectual or introverted; Michael Stuhlbarg is a wildly excitable, intensely self-infuriated man, full of nervous energy, whose "antic disposition" often seems quite genuinely nuts as he howls and rages and nearly rapes his mother.

In the course of each soliloquy we watch him run the gantlet of moods, from sardonic to disgusted; he stamps his feet, he weeps, letting one mood after another overtake him. His love scene with Ophelia is gorgeously romantic and desperate; he seems very unhappy and inspires our affection and pity, but not our admiration: This Hamlet is driven by psychology, not philosophy - a more contemporary, but perhaps thinner, reading of the role.

And while Hamlet is so emotional, Ophelia (Lauren Ambrose - the carrot-haired beauty from Six Feet Under) and Gertrude (Margaret Colin) both seem oddly blank: They reveal no feelings, and we have no idea what made Gertrude marry her brother-in-law Claudius (Andre Braugher is only magisterial, neither sexy nor sinister nor charming) or how Ophelia feels about Hamlet or her father's meddling in their love affair. This leaves two huge holes in the production.

Every Hamlet seems to foreground one or another of these rich, complex characters - depending on both the director's interpretation and the casting. But I don't think I've ever seen Polonius steal the show the way Sam Waterston does. Waterston - who played Hamlet on that same stage in 1975 and who currently stars in TV's Law and Order) does - wears a contemporary suit and tie, professorial gray beard and rimless glasses; he is middle-aged, not doddering, and the long pause when Polonius forgets what he's talking about is vividly realistic.

As Laertes, David Harbour lumbers around, the butt of jokes rather than the hotblooded man of action, and thus not the necessary contrast to Hamlet's paralysis of will. His advice to Ophelia, which is followed by Polonius' advice to him, reveals that he's inherited the platitude gene, a chip off the old block in both manner and voice.

Director Oskar Eustis has trimmed and rearranged segments of the text, although his most shocking and peculiar decision - a gratuitous betrayal - comes at the very end (no spoilers).

The costumes seem mismatched, varying from sundresses to Gilbert & Sullivan epaulettes. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's outfits tip witty hats to both Beckett and Stoppard. The scenes with the company of players are visually stunning - their arrival at the castle is filled with joy and spectacle - as well as deeply moving: We, too, weep for Hecuba. Jay O. Sanders is a splendid Player King as well as Gravedigger.

By the end - nearly 3½ hours later - the "brave, o'erhanging firmament" is moonlit; the great spirit of Shakespeare in the Park lives, showing us, again, "what a piece of work is man."

Hamlet

Shakespeare in the Park, Delacorte Theatre, Central Park, New York. Through June 29. Tickets: Free. Information: 212-539-8750 or www.publictheater.org.