Philadelphia Theatre Company presents Bruce Graham's 'Rizzo'

Which Rizzo do you see?

For some people who spent those Rizzo decades in Philadelphia (basically the 1960s to the 1990s), it might have been a sentimental journey. Remember when Rizzo’s police force — he went from beat cop to Commissioner to Mayor — could “invade Cuba,” or when the way to treat criminals was spacco il capo (break their heads)?

For others too young or from other cities, the play is about a homophobic racist bully who markets fear with police brutality and blatant racism, who promises to “make Philadelphia great again,” who knows that “nice don’t get the job done.” The relevance is shocking, especially with the current political dialogue filling the air. As Rizzo says, come the election, “I’m gonna make Atilla the Hun look like a faggot.”

The run at PTC is a reprise of Theatre Exile’s production, directed by Joe Canuso, which opened last year. It is a documentary-style play, with the chronological narrative providing highlights, and projections providing a few authentic images.

Dismantling democracy

Scott Greer is superb as Rizzo — charming, crude, and with a Philalelphia accent that is perfect. His devoted wife Carmella is played by Amanda Schoonover, who also appears (in a different dress, different wig, different walk) as a South Philly cop’s wife, and as Shelly Yanoff, the woman who organized an effort to recall the Mayor.

The fine cast boasts several actors in multiple roles: William Rahill, Robert DaPonte, Paul Nolan, Steven Wright (exceptionally good as Cecil B. Moore), and Damon Bonetti, the Inquirer reporter who forms a bond with Rizzo without ever compromising himself.

Rizzo is a look back at a city with filthy, dangerous streets, and a bicentennial celebration that turned into a financial disaster because Rizzo requested 15,000 federal troops with rifles to protect the tourists and everybody was too scared to come. It is a glimpse of a man drunk on power (“your rights are what I tell you they are”) and an interesting look at the way muscle politics can dismantle democracy. And yet, somehow he is charming, a vivid presence from the past, a coarse, crass, bigger than life mayor from the bad old days.

To read Carol Rocamora's review of Theatre Exile's production, click here.

To read Dan Rottenberg's review of Theatre Exile's production, click here.

To read SaraKay Smullens's reivew of Theatre Exile's production, click here.