Theater review
860
Ninety minutes with no intermission. At the Imperial Theatre, 249 W. forty fifth Street.
There are very few comedians left who can do what Billy Crystal can do. Almost none. Stand-ups who discuss about the information have a tendency to decide finger-pointing, strident activism or irony, like they’re auditioning for a spot on “The Daily Show.”
But what the extraordinary Crystal manages in “860,” his newest one-man Broadway show that opened Wednesday night time at the Imperial Theatre, is a feat. He takes the devastating 2025 Palisades fire in California, and the whole destruction of his household’s cherished home that they lived in for 46 years, and makes it humorous.
Not the blaze itself, of course. He rightly treats the catastrophe with solemnity, stress and disbelief. Based on the freshness of the efficiency I saw, I reckon he hasn’t totally moved on from those tough January days. Crystal could have written this show as therapy as much as for our leisure.
However, his recollections contained on the photo-and-memorabilia-covered partitions of his home workplace, which has been rebuilt onstage, are hysterical. And sometimes heartbreaking.
Billy Crystal remembers his lost home in the Pacific Palisades in “860” on Broadway. Brunkus
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He takes the viewers on a shifting and breakneck tour — of his framed snapshots with celebrities, the door of his childhood bed room in Long Beach, NY, he was given as a present and of hilarious occasions like his fateful gig in upstate New York opening for the band “Blood, Sweat & Tears” when frontman David Clayton-Thomas refused to go on.
Those bodily remnants of his life and long profession are ash now, so what’s left are tales.
And the crowd is rapt for them all. At 78, Crystal is still a generational performer. A pal said to me after, “I felt like I was at dinner with him.” He and director Scott Ellis flip the same barn that just hosted the musical “Chess” into an intimate get-together. Between the appetizer and the principal course, though, the scenario gets painful.
For a while, I grappled with the construction of “860,” which begins with Crystal and his spouse Janice racing to their daughter’s home in 2025 as their imperiled neighborhood is evacuated before segueing into fabulous showbiz tales. What does shedding a home have to do with fond remembrances of Muhammad Ali, Robin Williams and Rob Reiner?
The comic tells tales of showbiz buddies like Muhammad Ali, Robin Williams and Rob Reiner. Brunkus
Lots, truly. In the 21 years since his last hit solo outing on Broadway, “700 Sundays,” those three pricey buddies have all died, two in really horrible methods. Particularly when he begins to discuss about Reiner, who was killed less than a 12 months in the past, and the off-camera enjoyable of making “When Harry Met Sally,” we notice that not only does Crystal need to discuss about these males publicly, but, like with 860 Chautauqua Blvd., he desperately wants to maintain onto the good instances. Not the dangerous.
That’s what the viewers needs, too.
There are a few fleeting moments when Crystal goes off observe. He makes simple jabs at Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Kash Patel that, wherever you really feel about those guys, really feel out of place in an otherwise pretty and light show about buddies and household.
And in the finish, that’s what “860” focuses on. The comic remembers an early level in his profession when a expertise agent instructed him to discuss more about himself to make his mark. So, he wrote materials about being a stay-at-home dad, and it labored.
Crystal ends the show focusing on his household. Brunkus
In that spirit, the ultimate act of “860” is all about his last few years in the Pacific Palisades home. His fiftieth marriage ceremony anniversary was during COVID, so his children and grandchildren turned his yard into a restaurant and performed waiters.
And, after the horrors of the abode burning down, there are tiny miracles. His World Series rings survived. And so did a rock from his workplace with a helpful phrase carved into it: “Laughter.”
Against all odds, Crystal is again bringing a lot of that to Broadway.
