Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis

Everyone enjoys a lovable curmudgeon, and, at least at the start of the show, it appears that that is what Pops is. In the first scene, we grow fond of Pops and the eager Oswaldo, enjoying the rapport between them in just the way to make us distressed when a drunken Oswaldo turns around and assaults Pops in an effort to steal his credit card. However, the other characters and relationships in the show are less interesting. I could do entirely without the trope of the sweet but ditzy hot girlfriend. And, as much as we are led to hate Officer Caro, the revelation that he brings of Pops' backstory erodes Pops' likability as it becomes clear that he is just another alcoholic determined to hold others accountable for his own bad choices. Then we have the “Church Lady.” Despite the later revelation that she is just a con-woman, the sex scene with her carries a kind of magical realism that seems wildly out of place in the show (her con act does not account for the “medical miracle”). Overall, the show has its moments and does a fair job of moving along through a story-line (in this day and age, that actually requires acknowledgment), but I do not have a burning desire to see it onstage.