The Public Theater production, which began March 25, was originally scheduled to open April 7. The cast needed more rehearsal, said a spokesperson.

When the Public decided to remove the too-expensive Two Noble Kinsmen from its roster, and replaced it with As You Like It, the theatre gave director Erica Schmidt a call. She and her cast were given only three weeks to reassemble the production, Schmidt said.

In addition, the staging has a different Rosalind, Bryce Dallas Howard, than it had had in its previous two incarnations. Angela Goethals had played that central, cross-dressing role in the past.

The other five actors in the cast are Drew Cortese (as Lebeau, Duke Frederick, Duke Senior, Silvius), Johnny Giacalone (Touchstone, Jaques), Jennifer Ikeda (Adam, Phebe, Audrey), Lethia Nall (Celia, William) and Lorenzo Pisoni (Orlando, Oliver).

Howard (film director Ron Howard's daughter) is perhaps the best known of the sextet. She came to the public's attention last summer as a haughty, flirtatious teenager in Alan Ayckbourn's House and Garden at Manhattan Theatre Club. Erica Schmidt has conceived the production. Schmidt piloted a very different work, the spoof Debbie Does Dallas, at the Jane Street Theater last fall. That show recently closed. Schmidt's other credits include Spanish Girl at Second Stage Uptown, Romeo and Juliet at the Outdoor Garage and The White Devil at The Directors Company.

This As You Like It began life at the 2000 New York International Fringe Festival. Angela Goethals starred as the classic Shakesperean heroine Rosalind, who dons a man's clothes to win the love of Orlando. The show won the FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for Schmidt and transferred to a brief Oct. 10-29 run at 111 Times Square.

For ticket information, call (212) 239-6200.