Roger Guenveur Smith has made something of a specialty of performing solo shows based on the lives of real people, including Huey P. Newton, Rodney King, Frederick Douglass, and even Otto Frank, Anne’s father. But his latest effort, In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat, bears a uniquely personal stamp. The writer-performer became friends with the now-legendary artist, who died in 1988 when he was only 27 years old, when the two men met at a dance club in the early ’80s and went to see the Martin Scorsese movie The King of Comedy together. Basquiat was just at the beginning of his meteoric career while Smith was rapping under the name “Hollywatts” (an amalgam of Hollywood and Watts).
The solo piece, running little more than an hour, is less a fact-laden biographical portrait of Basquiat than a freewheeling meditation on his life. Less so his art, with none of his landmark works shown and one of the few references to his posthumous success occurring when Smith assumes the role of auctioneer, beginning the bidding for one of Basquiat’s paintings at $57 million before it finally sells for the staggering sum of $110.5 million.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★☆ review here.]
Performing barefoot and clad in a dark suit, Smith points out the many ironies of Basquiat’s short life, such as the fact that he lost his spleen as a result of being hit by a car in 1968, the same year that his future mentor Andy Warhol lost the same organ after being shot in an assassination attempt.
Smith relates such piquant anecdotes as the time Basquiat casually asked a fellow clubgoer to remove his jacket emblazoned with a Confederate flag. When the man didn’t respond, Basquiat ripped the jacket off him, throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. Another time, Basquiat gave Smith a painting, casually suggesting that he “buy a house with this one day.” When Smith thumbtacked it to his wall, his niece got jealous. “Thought another child’s work caught my eye,” Smith comments with a wry smile.
Smith also describes a visit to Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery to visit his friend’s grave. (The artist had eerily referenced the cemetery in his artwork “Bird on Money,” which he painted at age 20.) He happened upon a “Celebrity Grave Tour” at the site and told the participants that he was a personal friend of the deceased. Declining the offer of a megaphone from the tour leader, Smith proceeded to deliver a personal account of Basquiat’s life. He would later model his performance as the street-artist Smiley in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing on his old friend.
The substance of the show proves less important than its style, with Smith proving mesmerizing in his smooth, beat poetry-style delivery of the elliptical text. Adding greatly to the overall effect is the sonic backdrop provided by Smith’s frequent collaborator Marc Anthony Thompson, performing live and combining sound effects with musical accompaniment featuring such styles as jazz, hip-hop, and blues. Arlo Sanders’ lighting design, frequently showcasing Smith surrounded by a sea of darkness, makes another important contribution.
In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat doesn’t provide much in the way of information for those not already familiar with its subject’s life. But true to its title, it serves as a worthy and moving tribute.
In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat opened September 14, 2025, at New York Theatre Workshop and runs through October 4, 2026. Tickets and information: nytw.org
