Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Although funny and raunchy at times, "Between Riverside and Crazy" is striving for modern tragedy in its portrayal of Pops, a man whose body somehow survived being pumped full of bullets but that seems to be in the final throes of submission to booze and broken trusts - until Walker, whose performance is formidable, winds up his character for one last act of determination, fueled by a visit from a spiritually complicated character named Church Lady (Lily Mojekwu)."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...It would be all too easy to describe the Steppenwolf Theatre production of "Between Riverside and Crazy," Stephen Adly Guirgis' 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, as a piece of uncanny programming that fits this particular period of national upheaval like a glove."
Daily Herald - Recommended
"...In "Between Riverside and Crazy," affection and disappointment, selflessness and self-interest exist simultaneously. Nothing is black and white. Guirgis play is limned in shades of gray and more affecting because of it."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Between Riverside and Crazy is hugely unsatisfying given the important issues it attempts to tackle. But one can hardly find fault with Steppenwolf's finely executed production. Under the always sure hand of director Yasen Peyankov, the acting is mostly up to Steppenwolf's high standards, although Eamonn Walker's Washington tends to operate in only three distinct modes: bitterly withdrawn, indignantly explosive, and pathetically injured. Scenic designer Collette Pollard's well-worn apartment provides just the right touch of exhaustion and despair. And Peyankov's pacing gives the evening a sense of catapulting inevitability, even when Guirgis unnecessarily belabors certain plot points. But nothing disguises the fact that the playwright can't make his potent material matter."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Eamonn Walker's Walter commands Collette Pollard's comfortably cluttered stage with patriarchal presence, while the supporting performances are everything we have come to expect of the Steppenwolf ensemble, Special mention is due Lily Mojekwu, however, whose portrayal of the mysterious Brazilian-born vodou sorceress posing as a "Church Lady" holds us spellbound from the first exotic syllable ( courtesy of dialect consultant Tanera Marshall )."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...But the second-act appearance of a mysterious woman (Lily Mojekwu) who, uh, sexually reboots Pops's life comes across as a little embarrassing. Despite solidly grounded performances (even if Walker and Steppenwolf ensemble member StephJames Vincent Meredith, as his ex-con son, read more like brothers onstage), Riverside's ruminations on redemption and retribution follow a shaky route."
Stage and Cinema - Somewhat Recommended
"...But Between Riverside and Crazy can entertain: Steppenwolf doesn’t drop that ball. The two hours aren’t dull, if only because our distrust of these shifty schemers turns into a tantalizing test of tolerance. Occasionally we glimpse the neediness and hunger behind their poker-bluffing hustles and scrounging for tomorrow. Then the “crazy” in the title becomes more than a formula for funny. But at best it’s a cry for help from folks who can’t come clean."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Without giving away more, Between Riverside and Crazy is a master work, a terrific night of theatre as well as a timely honest look at racial issues especially dealing with cops. We see Eamonn Walker as the Battalion Chief on the TV series Chicago Fire-now see Walker in a fabulous live turn as the flawed ex-cop. Between Riverside and Crazy is one of the best plays of 2016, don't miss it."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...It is not often that I see a play that starts off at a high point and continues to keep me glued to the story for the entire duration. The Chicago Premiere of “Between Riverside and Crazy”, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis. now on stage at Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s “downstairs” did just that!"
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Yasen Peyankov's guided an excellent production of this wonderful, heartbreaking and humorous play. It's a story that might actually be ripped from today's headlines, but the play provides humanity to the statistics of our newscasts. It's a story about love, about real people who live for themselves while still managing to care for each other. It puts a name and a face to the endless violence and concerns this country seems to always experience. Stephen Adly Guirgis' sensational prize-winning drama won't provide any answers, but it raises enough questions to stimulate conversation about our world today."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...Stephen Adly Guirgis has moved to the forefront of the American theater in the new millennium with his gritty plays about life among the urban underclass, white, Hispanic, and black. Several of his plays have been staged to advantage in Chicago theaters as well as New York City and elsewhere, and the playwright was finally elevated to the American theater peerage in 2015 by winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama for “Between Riverside and Crazy,” now receiving its Chicagoland premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY is a thought-provoking analysis of life choices and second chances. Long after the curtain, it continues to dare me to consider where I’ve been, where I’m going and how crazy remaining stuck can be. I highly recommend going to BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY for life contemplation."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Between Riverside and Crazy isn’t for everyone: it’s gritty and at times over the top, with a script that promises much but doesn’t always deliver. However, Steppenwolf’s Chicago premiere is worth seeing for the strength of its cast, an experienced and eager crew who dive into the complicated motivations typical to Guirgis characters. Pops may not be everyone’s hero, but Walker is a leading man for the ages."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Between Riverside and Crazy is a rowdy, raunchy play with lots of action. (Sensitive ears alert: When I said raunchy, that's what I meant.) Yasen Peyankov directs it with style and glee. Collette Pollard's scenic design picks up the characteristics of decayed, messy life in a Riverside Drive apartment, which also has a roof deck, the second level of the set. (She and Peyankov visited Guirgis in his own Riverside Drive apartment. Photos of that visit are shown in the playbill.)"
PlaylistHQ - Highly Recommended
"...The acting in this performance was fantastic. As the director, Yasen Peyankov, said, "The characters are so real that, at times you feel like, you shouldn't be sitting there listening to their arguments." The actors completely lose themselves in their roles. The set design is also fantastic and it's an incredible moment when the second half of the set is revealed."
Splash Magazine - Somewhat Recommended
"...Overall I have very mixed feelings about "Between Riverside". The play is frustratingly inconsistent. There is so much vagueness in the script that there are numerous plot holes left unanswered at the end. And then there are some puzzling character motivations that, while understandable to an extent, also cross over believability so much that things start to ring inherently false. In many ways it reminded me of one of those dense plays you'd study in a literature class where you'd find yourself intrigued by the themes and textual elements, discovering layers of complexity underneath the surface, while being puzzled and bored to death watching it all actually unfold on stage."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Harrowing devastation is felt every time the words "six shots" is said in "Between Riverside and Crazy" by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Not because of the script itself. But who would have known that this play, which first opened in 2014, would reflect the current moment so perfectly at its Chicago premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company."
