1st Stage: Between Riverside and Crazy

 I loved this play!  Written in 2014 by Stephen Adly Guirgis, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Best New Play in 2015.  And deservedly so!  The dialogue was so fresh and spontaneously funny at times.  The plot is clear, but the turns and twists along the way were one delightful hard right followed by an even more brilliant hard left.  I recommend leaving your seat belts on throughout the duration of this flight.

The set, designed by Tony Cisek is the most elaborate I've ever seen at 1st Stage.  They truly pulled out all of the stops and in doing so added a layer of magic to the play that Broadway's production didn't even have.  It deserves a BRILLIANT all its own!

The show was rescheduled back after the sudden death of the actor who originally had the lead and naturally the production is dedicated to his life and legacy.  I'd seen him in other productions and knew him to be a solid actor--someone who can carry the arch of the character.  However, and I mean no disrespect, the actor who replaced him, another whose work I am familiar with here in the DMV, just took the lead character, Walter "Pops" Washington to a degree of intense presence that I could not imagine anyone else performing the role.  Nor could I imagine what it would be like to get the call to come and fill the shoes of colleague who has just passed into Ancestry.  Clearly, he was the perfect choice.

As to the other actors, again not a loose screw in the lot!  Two who I will highlight, one a longtime presence for me in the DMV.  An actor who will do anything to embody a role.  An actor who has often also appeared in programs as the understudy.  And while I have really enjoyed Dylan Arrendondo in other performances (most notably as Philinte in Constellation Theatre's production of "The School For Lies"), as Oswaldo, the ex-con with lingering Father issues, it was like I was watching a actor I'd never seen before blossom in a role that left me with a complex range of emotional connections to the character.  

The other was Fabiolla Da Silva as the Church Lady, a con artist intent on swindling Pops who ultimately received from him that greatest gift of grace.  It's a tour de force performance from start to redemptive finish.  I honestly can't remember the last time I watched a new play that had been on Broadway and enjoyed it so much.  "John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only" was a better play, but it has yet to be presented on the Great White Way.  

My local peeps have a week to see this one, and I promise you won't regret the effort.

Lulu (Hannah Taylor) and "Pops" Washington (Addison Switzer) after Lulu who is Pops' son, Junior's, live in girlfriend, has just revealed that she is pregnant.  One of many lies that fill his world.

L-R: Junior (Shawn Sebastian Naar), Lulu, Pops, Det. Audrey O'Connor (Ellis Greer) and Lt. Caro (Chris Genebach)

The Church Lady (Fabiolla Da Silva) brings her mix of Christianity and Santeria to "Pops" to heal him!  But in the end all he gets is Boner and a Heart Attack!  It's a highlight moment in the humor that is woven adeptly throughout the play.

The incredible, glorious, utterly inspired and perfect set!  Designed by Tony Cisek.  Bravo!