Review: Between Riverside and Crazy
There’s at least one major reason to see Between Riverside and Crazy, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and that is Stephen McKinley Henderson. His singular performance had me captivated from start to finish, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got the veteran actor his first Tony award. While the entire cast is excellent and makes solid work of the script, it’s really McKinley Henderson’s show.
Directed by Austin Pendleton, Between Riverside and Crazy follows former NYPD cop Pops (McKinley Henderson), a swearing, whiskey-swilling widower. His son, Junior (Common), has just been released from prison and the two are at odds over how to handle a settlement with the police department.
While off-duty some years ago, Pops, a black man, was shot by a white cop and sued the NYPD. But the department wanted to settle to avoid a public relations brouhaha. Under the advisement of a grubby lawyer, Pops refused the money, believing he was owed more than what was offered.
The settlement is a sore spot for Pops and nowhere is this illuminated more than in a magnificent dinner scene with his former partner, Audry (Elizabeth Canavan), and her fiance, Lieutenant Caro (Gary Perez), who appeal to Pops on behalf of the NYPD to finally take the settlement or lose everything.
To compound Pops’ troubles and threaten his already tenuous health, there is the matter of the apartment. Amongst the many inhabitants of the run-down rent-controlled Riverside Drive apartment he has rented for decades: Junior, his lusty girlfriend, Lulu (Rosal Colón), and his ex-con friend, Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar), and a mangy dog nobody seems to want to take out for a walk. The landlord is threatening eviction and will do whatever it takes to get everyone out so he can make some real money from it.
With the wounds from his past so fresh, Pops is a live wire, whipping all over the place from Junior to Caro to the Church Lady (Maria-Christina Oliveras) that visits every Sunday. There are a lot of layers to this character — remorse, anger, grief — that could have any actor chewing the scenery. McKinley Henderson resists this urge and instead skillfully turns out a performance so nuanced you don’t quite know if he’s the hero of the story or the villain.
The theme of police violence will strike a chord with anyone paying attention to the news in recent years. The added layer of this being cop-on-cop violence is even more compelling and just one more reason to go see Between Riverside and Crazy.
If you’re unable to make it to New York City to catch Between Riverside and Crazy live, there will be a livestream of the play during two weeks of performances, from January 31 through February 12, 2023. This is a great opportunity to catch a fantastic play no matter where you live.
