BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Previews

The winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Between Riverside and Crazy begins previews tomorrow at the Helen Hayes Theatre, prior to a December 19 opening night. The play is written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Austin Pendleton. Leading the cast is Common in his Broadway debut; joining him are Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Michael Rispoli. Between Riverside and Crazy will conclude its limited run on February 12.

As previously announced, Tuesday nights and Wednesday matinees will be mask-required performances. Also, the final two weeks of performances will be simulcast; $68 tickets are now on sale.

“City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed — and the Church won’t leave him alone. For ex-cop and recent widower Walter ‘Pops’ Washington and his recently paroled son Junior, the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent stabilized apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum in this Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy from Stephen Adly Guirgis. For Pops and Junior, it seems the old days are dead and gone — after a lifetime living Between Riverside and Crazy.”

Who’s going?

Was at the theatre buying tickets for a future performance and it appears Victor Alamanzar is out and Erick Betancourt will play Oswaldo at tonight’s first preview

I was notified by TDF that tonight's performance has been cancelled

Surprised at how many tickets are available for the first few weeks, I really thought Common would be a big enough name to move tickets

Common is out with COVID

any updates? Supposed to see this Sunday...

Anshel2 said: "I really enjoyed this. Interesting story. Good characters. The only one I didn't really care for was Common. Low key, monotone delivery. An enjoyable evening."



I really want to see this but, if I am not mistaken, this is Common's stage debut and I think I will wait until he gets more comfortable.

I saw this yesterday afternoon and agree that this is an under the radar MUST see. I was totally enthralled by the complicated themes, dark humor, and humanity embedded in this play. Stephen McKinley Henderson is giving a master class performance, and it is stunning how amazing and nuanced his performance is. He tows the line between heartwarming, tragic, and vindictive within breaths. The entire ensemble was excellent, and on the whole Common more than held his own. Austin Pendleton’s direction is great as well, the play was always moving at a good pace and the production as a whole really served the play well. Would highly recommend!

Updated On: 12/12/22 at 06:47 AM

Stephen McKinley Henderson was definitely a big highlight for me as well! I liked the play overall, I thought it was truly funny but also able to discuss the heavy issues it did. The main thing to me seemed that there wasn't a cohesive style across actors? Rosal Colon seemed to be playing very broad while Common was much more reserved (which maybe is due to his inexperience in acting, but I didn't think it was a bad fit for his character either). Elizabeth Canavan and Michael Rispoli seemed to have kind of a strange chemistry together--it didn't feel like they were romantically involved, despite all that they say about being engaged--and I had a hard time believing that Audrey had such a close relationship with Walter, too. I don't think any individual actor was particularly poor, but they just didn't seem to click together as well as I would've liked, which was weird considering a lot of them did the off Broadway run. Did anyone else feel this way too?

I also really liked the way they employed the set, it seemed really effective for such a small theater, and even just making some of the set changes happen in front of the audience was nice to see (like them setting the table in half-lighting), since it made it seem like it was another glimpse into the lives of these characters.

Guirgis. Pendleton. McKinley Henderson. That's three national treasures right there.

Mr. Henderson is a legend, and Common has really grown as an actor (also I can't believe he's 50, he looks incredible lol), but I was not as taken with Guirgis' play as many others. Spoilers and more thoughts below: