Though Between Riverside and Crazy has received two New York City productions—its premiere at the Atlantic in 2014, followed by a quick reprise at Second Stage in 2015—it’s not surprising that Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize winner finally found its way to Broadway, where it just opened at the Hayes Theater. The New York City–set play is definitely Guirgis’ funniest. It’s a dysfunctional family drama, centering on former beat cop Walter “Pops” Washington (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and his extended family: his parolee son, Junior (Oscar-, Emmy-, and Grammy-winning rapper Common); Junior’s belly shirt–and–booty short–wearing girlfriend, Lulu (Rosal Colón), a sunny but dim-witted girl; and his felon friend Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar), a tightly wound recovering drug addict. And you can never have too many dysfunctional family dramas. How else are we supposed to feel better about our own families?
Plus, it’s about time that Guirgis, an off-Broadway fixture in the 2000s and 2010s, got another Broadway production; his first, and only, was 2011’s The Motherfucker With the Hat, featuring comedian Chris Rock and one of the best titles ever. Guirgis’ titles, incidentally, are generally pretty amazing. His last play was a sprawling 19-character epic set in a women’s halfway house, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven. Two of his best: Jesus Hopped the A Train, which goes inside Rikers Island; and Our Lady of 121st Street, which involves the death of a nun and the mysterious disappearance of her dead body. So if you haven’t yet caught up with this quintessentially New York playwright, Between Riverside and Crazy is an excellent introduction to Guirgis’ work.
The Riverside of Between Riverside and Crazy refers to Riverside Drive, where Walter lives in a run-down but palatial rent-controlled three-bedroom apartment. Now that Walter’s wife, Delores, has passed, Junior, Lulu, and Oswaldo have taken up residence there; Lulu and Oswaldo have even taken to calling him dad. The paint may be peeling, the wallpaper may be faded, but the pre-war details—think crown molding and glass-block walls—are impressive. (Walt Spangler’s revolving set is a stunner.) The price for all of this? Take a deep breath, my fellow New Yorkers: $1,500/month. No wonder the landlord wants Pops out of there. “I’m a ex-cop, war veteran, senior citizen with a legal rent-control lease from 1978 and I never pay late—I wish they would try to fuck with me,” he says.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★★ review here.]
He’s also a man who’s spent the last eight years embroiled in a civil suit with the city after he was shot while off-duty by another cop—a white cop, who allegedly used a racial slur while firing. “That’s an unsubstantiated allegation, Walter,” says his former partner, Detective O’Connor (Elizabeth Canavan, a veteran of multiple Guirgis plays). She and her fiancé, the brass-kissing Lieutenant Caro (Michael Rispoli), have dinner and reminisce with Walter. She shows off her pricey Tiffany engagement ring, the spoils of Dave’s poker-playing prowess. “I’m no jeweler, but this looks like some serious Audrey Hepburn–Cartier–Kim Kardashian–shit right here,” says Walter approvingly. The three commiserate about “that pretentious guinea windbag,” as Dave calls him, Giuliani. “Like he ain’t the son of a two-bit Sing Sing ex-con from East Flatbush.… And I won’t even get into him sitting in the Yankee dugout. The audacity, wearing the friggin’ uniform like he’s Joe Pepitone with a toupee—the jerk.” (Did Guirgis have any idea how well that section would age?) But now the two cops mean business: They want Walter to settle the lawsuit. Walter wants them to F off.
With each successive scene, Guirgis peels away layers, and we learn more about Walter: He basically drinks from morning to night. There’s more to his shooting story than we thought. And he has a real mean streak toward the end—truly avaricious and petty. Yet we’re rooting for him despite each disturbing discovery. Henderson, an exceptional stage actor who’s perhaps best known for his roles in August Wilson plays, gives a bravura performance—all the more impressive considering he’s seated for most of his scenes. In his dalliance with the Church Lady (Liza Colón-Zayas, another Guirgis vet)—which features the wildest passing of the Communion wafer you’ll ever see—he’s confined to a wheelchair; and he’s hooked up to an IV and bedridden for an uncharacteristically restrained confessional with Junior. Judging by the entrance applause, Common is this production’s biggest draw, and the neophyte stage actor seems to still be finding his footing. But he’s sweet and subtly charming in a rooftop scene with Colón, and powerful in the aforementioned muted emotional exchange with Henderson. Guirgis gives his characters plenty of R-rated barbs and razor-sharp banter, but those smaller, low-key moments reveal Riverside’s bruised, battered heart.
Between Riverside and Crazy opened Dec. 19, 2022, at the Hayes Theater and runs through Feb. 19, 2023. Tickets and information: 2st.com
