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Common is gearing up for another acting role, this time making his debut on the Broadway stage in a revival of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play – potentially putting him in line to make the EGOT list.
According to reports, the veteran rapper and actor has signed on to be in the revival of Between Riverside and Crazy, completing the cast. The play, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2015. It will be directed by Austin Pendleton and return most of the cast from the original production. Common shared the news with his fans on social media last Friday (Sept. 16th), expressing his gratitude for being a part of the production.
Common’s addition to the cast has him playing the role of recently paroled Junior Washington, son to ex-cop and recent widower to Walter “Pops” Washington, played by Stephen McKinley Henderson (who recently was in the Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga). The Between Riverside and Crazy synopsis shows the father and son sharing a rent-controlled apartment on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, New York, exploring “old wounds, sketchy new houseguests and a final ultimatum…” throughout the play.
The original play first opened up off Broadway in 2014, earning rave reviews with Ron Cephas Jones starring in the role of Junior at that time. Other members of the cast include Victor Almanzar, Elizabeth Canavan, Rosal Colón, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Michael Rispoli.
This is the latest acting role for Common, who recently starred opposite Keke Palmer in Alice, which made its debut at the 2022 Sundance Festival earlier this year. The part of Junior could potentially help him win a Tony and complete the lauded EGOT achievement – Common earned an Oscar in 2015 and a Grammy Award in 2016 for “Glory,” which was co-written with John Legend for Ava DuVernay’s Selma.
He would then go on to share an Emmy for “Letter To The Free”, which was featured in DuVernay’s Netflix documentary 13th in 2017.
Between Riverside and Crazy is set to begin performances on Nov. 30, 2022 at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater with an official opening night set for Dec.19.
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