March 28, 2016
Image courtesy of Theater Exile/for PhillyVoice
Scott Greer, portraying Frank Rizzo in 'Rizzo,' poses outside City Hall.
"Rizzo," the stage adaptation of Sal Paolantonio's biography of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo, is coming to the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in September for another go-around.
Scott Greer, the Barrymore Award-winning actor who previously played Rizzo in the play, will reprise his role for a five-week run that starts Sept. 23. The play is written by Bruce Graham and will again be directed by Theatre Exile's Joe Canuso.
"This is magnificent news – Rizzo coming back to life on Broad Street, where he was such a powerful presence as a cop, police commissioner and Philadelphia mayor," Paolantonio, a former Philadelphia Inquirer political reporter and current ESPN correspondent, told PhillyVoice. "Now people who missed Scott Greer’s powerful performance as Rizzo and the entire Theater Exile company bringing the city’s history to life will get to see this play at the spectacular Suzanne Roberts Theater, right in the heart of Center City where this important theatrical work belongs.”
The play, which portrays Rizzo's run-up to the 1991 mayoral election, originally ran for five weeks in October at Old City's Christ Church Neighborhood House. The show sold out all five weeks.
In interviews with PhillyVoice last October, Rizzo's family members reported generally positive feedback about the play.
