'Rizzo' at Theatre Exile: Big, brash, worthy of an ambiguous Philly legend
Once upon a time, you could take the measure of a Philadelphian by his or her reaction to the name Frank Rizzo. As Bruce Graham's Theatre Exile world-premiere play Rizzo makes abundantly clear, you were with him or against him. He was a skull-cracking peacekeeper and the only politician brave enough to stand up for the working class, or he was a skull-cracking, gay-bashing, racist bully and the leader of a ring of cronies and thugs who held an entire city at their mercy.
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Once upon a time, you could take the measure of a Philadelphian by his or her reaction to the name Frank Rizzo. As Bruce Graham's Theatre Exile world-premiere play Rizzo makes abundantly clear, you were with him or against him. He was a skull-cracking peacekeeper and the only politician brave enough to stand up for the working class, or he was a skull-cracking, gay-bashing, racist bully and the leader of a ring of cronies and thugs who held an entire city at their mercy.
My initial reaction to this project was a groan. Philadelphia has finally crawled out from under the Big Bambino's long shadow to become a world-class city (at least, if you don't look too closely at our schools), and now this? And yet, working from former Inquirer staff writer Sal Paolantonio's biography, Graham fashions a complex figure, still larger than life (and if the role wasn't written specifically for Scott Greer, it might as well have been) but riddled with contradictions.
There's not much of a set - a window, podium, chairs, a few archival news photos projected on the back wall. That's fine, because Greer's Rizzo is all the set decoration this production needs. Within the first 10 minutes, he tells a Polish joke, slams The Inquirer, and takes a swipe at a skirt-chasing Ed Rendell. Suddenly, it's clear how that big, bad jerk got himself two mayoralties, a daily radio show, a statue, a mural, and the pained loyalty of thousands.
Under the direction of Joe Canuso, Greer burns hot in this role, working a deep Philly accent to the max, mopping his forehead, and hollering con brio infamous Rizzo quotes, such as this response to charges of police brutality: "I got doves flyin' outta my armpits!"
With all that red meat dripping around Greer, it's tough for Graham's other characters to avoid seeming anemic. Damon Bonetti's Reporter, a stiff Inky paisano fashioned on Paolantonio, never truly fits into the narrative. Amanda Schoonover plays multiple female roles, but Rizzo's wife, Carmella, is so underwritten that we don't get a sense of her as anything other than a meek hausfrau. As activist Shelly Yanoff, however, Schoonover is lively and spirited, a worthy adversary in a wrap dress and curly-blond wig.
Akeem Davis might have the toughest task, representing a whole varied community's feelings about the former mayor. As a neighbor, or a cop, he struggles with the gap between Rizzo's personal largesse and public policy. And yet, it's clear when Rizzo meets Davis' Cecil B. Moore - in purple pinstripes and fedora, smirking over a fat cigar - he has met his match. There's a whole other play in here about the uneasy balance of power between these two Philly political legends, and this brief scene is so riveting, I'd be first in line to watch the telling of this less-examined story.
But Rizzo is what we've got, and all the decades of his history weigh heavy on the house when Greer exclaims triumphantly, "There's never going to be another one like me!"
Through Nov. 8 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St. Tickets: $35. Information: 215-218-4022 or www.theatreexile.org.
@WendyRosenfield
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