There are so many reasons to admire and respect—even love—Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy that it’s almost a challenge to know where to start. But not quite. The pressing place is with a play that moves to Broadway from its initial off-Broadway run with the 2015 Pulitzer Prize now attached to it as well as so many other laurels that listing them would take too much space from other huzzahs
Retired policeman Walter (Stephen McKinley Henderson, more of him later) rules as Pops from a wheelchair left in his Riverside Drive, Manhattan kitchen after his wife Delores died. His roost isn’t what many would consider a candidate for the Good Housekeeping Award. Son Junior (Common), twice an ex-con and still dealing daily in purloined goods, is in situ with rent girlfriend Lulu (Rosal Colón). Also present is hyperkinetic permanent guest Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar), another one with prison stripes in his past.
As Guirgis sets his brimming work in motion—and with marvelously manipulated humor—he may spend a few more minutes than necessary establishing the hectic household goings-on that allow Walter to dominate all exchanges with the quickly deflating remark.
[Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s ★★★★★ review here.]
Once introing the crazy Riverside habitués, however, Guirgis moves bluntly to his real concern. Walter’s former police force partner, Detective O’Connor (Elizabeth Canavan), arrives with fiancé Lieutenant Caro (Michael Rispoli). They drop in for old time’s sake and for new time’s sake as well. Their true purpose is to convince Walter he needs to stop fighting a settlement with the city over an ugly incident that prompted his premature retirement.
Describing it may qualify as a spoiler, but here goes: Walter, not in uniform and obstreperous at an after-hours bar, was shot six times by a rookie cop some years earlier. Since then, Walter has been holding out for more money than the actual circumstances may warrant.
Nothing more needs be said about the plot, other than that Church Lady (Liza Colón-Zayas) drops in to revitalize Walter in her own seductive manner. It’s the drama and comedy Guirgis wrings from it that explains why the Pulitzer committee, not always a reliable source, got it right this time. And there’s the no-prisoners-taken (pun intended) dialogue, during which the line “Even cops hate cops” lands with resonance.
Indeed, the Pulitzer and Guirgis’ delectable, damning dialogue only add more nods to the fact that he may not be as recognized and savored as he should be. The author of this and, among others, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Mothef**ker With the Hat, and Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven has by now established himself as one of the country’s major playwrights.
Who else involved with Between Riverside and Crazy deserves those greatly earned kudos? How about Henderson, one of Broadway’s and off Broadway’s longtime reliable character actors? Guirgis has handed him a role that makes his abilities undeniable.
As Walter, Henderson has a part that gives him wide opportunities to keep his gifts on non-stop display. There’s a persistent quality in the player, something at his core that always confirms the quiet but unquestionable truth in whomever he’s playing.
And what of director Austin Pendleton, arguably the habitually busiest member of the New York City theater community? Last on Broadway stealing scenes in Tracy Letts’ The Minutes, he blithely and boldly returns as the Between Riverside and Crazy director. (Besides acting and directing, Pendleton is a playwright and acting teacher. Does he ever have any spare time? If he does, he probably spends it seeing a play.)
Because Guirgis packs so much to be unpacked in his scripts—the drama, the humor, much of it intricately simultaneous—Pendleton must unleash and restrain the actors not just from minute to minute but from second to second. He doesn’t miss a beat. He doesn’t miss any of the potential nuances within a beat.
Neither under his firm hand do any of the supporting actors. Perhaps Pendleton’s directorial request once he’s chosen his ensemble and has complete trust in them is to tell them to do what they do and feel confident doing it. Most likely, he says more, but knows how, as they interact, to shift focus nimbly. His is masterful directing.
Between Riverside and Crazy looks handsome on Walt Spangler’s turntable set with its tidy kitchen and its dated glass-fronted cabinets, its living room featuring a ’tis-the-season Christmas tree (for the earlier sequences), its cramped bedroom, and a stage-left metal-railing roof balcony. Costumer Alexis Forte and lighting designer Keith Parham match the first-rate production demands.
Sound designer Ryan Rumery supplies the Chi-Lites “Have You Seen Her?” that Guirgis has Walter listen to in grieved remembrance. Rumery also composes a series of ominous chords that get the audience slightly on edge before each of the two acts begins.
Lastly: Although an argument can be made that all art is political, Guirgis doesn’t usually go that route overtly. He does indulge here in an attack on one currently embroiled political figure. No name will be mentioned, but a hint is that Guirgis hasn’t the authority to disbar the man but every right to dismiss him naughtily. It’s one more reason to cheer the much-lauded playwright.
Between Riverside and Crazy opened December 19, 2022 at the Helen Hayes Theater and runs through February 19, 2023. Tickets and information: 2st.com
