“Between Riverside and Crazy” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (“The Get Down”). It’s the story of a retired policeman contemplating life and death as he faces eviction from one of the last rent-controlled apartments on Riverside Drive in the Upper West Side. It premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2014 and won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Riverside Drive is now an exclusive street in the Upper West Side up through Harlem and Washington Heights. It’s the edge of Manhattan above the parks along the Hudson River. An apartment there is a real find.
Between Riverside and Crazy 2022
Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Between Riverside and Crazy,” by New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (“The Get Down”), starts Broadway previews at the Hayes Theater in the Times Square Theater District on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 7pm for a Monday, December 19, 2022 opening. The show will be simulcast live from January 31 – February 12, 2023. From $69. 🇺🇸 🇩🇴 🇮🇪 🇮🇹 🇵🇷
A Great Story
“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. “It’s a dizzying and exciting place to be!” hails The New York Times.”
A Great Cast
This production features many members of the original Off-Broadway cast. Many of these artists have worked together before.
- Writer: Stephen Adly Guirgis @stephenadlyguirgis
- Director: Austin Pendleton
- Pops: Stephen McKinley Henderson (Thufir Hawat in “Dune”) @stephenmckinleyhenderson 🇺🇸
- Junior: Common (Rapper Lonnie Rashid Lynn) @common 🇺🇸
- Victor Almanzar 🇩🇴
- Elizabeth Canavan (“Bitches Go Straight to Heaven”
- Rosal Colón (“Orange is the New Black” and Pregones PRTT Theater family) @rosalmargarita 🇵🇷
- Liza Colón-Zayas (“Our Lady of 121st Street”) @lizacolonzayas 🇵🇷
- Michael Rispoli (Jackie Aprile in “The Sopranos”) 🇮🇹
An Award-Winning Play
In addition to the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Between Riverside and Crazy” has won many awards.
- New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play (2015).
- Drama League Award nominee for Outstanding Production of a Play (2015).
- Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Actor in a Play, and Outstanding Director of a Play (2015).
- Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, Lead Actor in a Play, and Featured Actress in a Play. Also nominated for Director, Featured Actor in a Play and Scenic Design.
- Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. Nominee for Outstanding Actor in a Play (2015).
- Obie Award for Performance for Stephen McKinley Henderson as Pop (2015).
- Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play and Legend of Off Broadway Honoree Award for director Austin Pendleton.
A Great Writer
Guirgis is a writer, director and actor who is the playwright of the other New York – the many diverse communities that make our city so vibrant. He is a New York Egyptian Irish from the Upper West Side with a profound gift for observation and telling diverse stories like he is a member of the family. We are fascinated by the breadth of his genius. Perhaps he is able to grasp different communities because he is multiracial and multicultural from birth [like us.]
His resumé is impressive, but we are most impressed with his “The Get Down” directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) and narrated by Nas. This tale of the beginnings of Hip-Hop in the 1970s Bronx is masterful storytelling in multiple dimensions.
If you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall in New York, and see how New Yorkers really live, choose the wall of Stephen Adly Guirgis. This guy is for real.
Jesus Hopped the “A” Train (2000)
For tickets and more information, visit 2st.com