Billy Crystal in 860
Crystal is a master of polished shtick who is also uncommonly connected to his audience; he makes the 1,450-seat Imperial Theatre, which normally hosts huge productions like Les Misérables and Chess, feel cozy. (700 Sundays and 860 are the only non-musicals to play there since the Seventies.) When he’s up there getting laughs, he seems completely at home, and—the consummate host, as ever—he invites us all in.
Keep Reading
Pope/Bettany Elevate ‘The Collaboration’ Into Art Worth Contemplating
One of them paved a path of his own ascending to artistic godhood by glorifying the mundane; the other painted SAMO (meaning the Same Old Sh*t) criticizing the very idea of repetition. One of them broke down the wall between art and business; for the other, walls didn’t mean a thing. One saw beauty, immortality, […]
Read More
Complex Men and Caricatures of Women Are Caught ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’
Walter “Pops” Washington, as he self-describes in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer-winning play Between Riverside and Crazy, is “a flesh and blood, pee standing up, registered Republican.” He is also a litigious former cop caught within the crossroads of bureaucracy, racism, life as a widower, and a fast-gentrifying Riverside Drive. He also happens to be Black. […]
Read More