A deft blend of drama, comedy and history, 'Rizzo' fulfills expectations

The expectations were at least twice as high as Billy Penn's statue on City Hall.

After all, Theatre Exile's "Rizzo," whose world premiere is being staged through Nov. 8 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, in Old City, is a play about the most controversial, dominant and polarizing figure in 20th-century Philadelphia politics, written by the city's most successful indigenous playwright and starring an actor who is arguably the region's best and most versatile stage performer.

But the production certainly meets - and likely exceeds - its preopening promises.

The resonant historical dramedy (for lack of a better description) is based on ESPN NFL and ex-Inquirer reporter Sal Paolantonio's 1994 biography of Frank Rizzo, the former Philly police commissioner and two-term mayor (or "mare," as he always said) who died during his third run at City Hall, in 1991.

Between Bruce Graham's fact-based, often hilarious script, Theatre Exile's Founding Artistic Director Joe Canuso's smart, effective staging and the typically brilliant work of Scott Greer in the title role, "Rizzo" easily stands as one of 2015's most enjoyable and important local productions.

Rather than go for hyper reality, Graham and Canuso chose to take a more stylized route, with the multi-decade, episodic story unfolding on a virtually bare stage, and Greer and the supporting cast regularly breaking the fourth wall. This strategy is especially important to the role of the unknown Inquirer reporter (ID'd only as "Reporter") who serves as the play's narrator and occasional Greek chorus.

Graham, as we know from his numerous works, is a very funny guy. But the majority of laughs here come straight from Rizzo. Today these quotes bring chuckles, but in the 1960s and '70s, they were divisive, inflammatory and often bizarre (e.g., his boast that as police commissioner, he would make "Attila the Hun look like a faggot").

But Graham's story is surprisingly evenhanded. For every tale of his supposed brutality (Rizzo's guiding principal of policing was spazzo il capo, Italian for "break your head"), duplicity (the infamous 1973 lie detector test, arranged by the Daily News, which he failed) or incendiary speech ("Vote white!"), there are segments that conjure his many accomplishments, like the building of the Gallery, the conversion of the airport into a modern facility and his heartfelt desire to protect all law-abiding citizens of his beloved city.

Nonetheless, "Rizzo" is ultimately borne on the ample shoulders of Greer, who captures the essence of the man without conjuring a mere impersonation or, worse, caricature.

Frank Rizzo was a complex individual: He was raised by a physically abusive father who seldom showed any pride in his son's many triumphs (which no doubt led to some psychological issues). He was always self-conscious, sometimes embarrassed, at being a high school dropout. And he was a perceived racist whose acts of kindness toward individual African-Americans were legion.

Greer fully inhabits his subject, rendering an accurate, nuanced portrait. It certainly helps that like Rizzo, Greer has a hulking presence. But prosthetics would have easily covered that if necessary. Instead, it's the actor's ability to convey the contradictions in Rizzo's personality so convincingly that makes his performance a joy.

It can't be easy to play a man who could undoubtedly be a frightening bully but who also had an almost supernatural reservoir of charm and charisma, and make both facets of that personality believable. Greer does it with a performance that easily ranks as one of the best seen this year on a local stage.

The play's six supporting players ably survey characters both invented and real. Among them, Akeem Davis scores as 1960s civil-rights activist Cecil B. Moore and longtime Rizzo bodyguard Jim Turner, while Amanda Schoonover is convincing as Rizzo's devoted wife, Carmella, and Rizzo-recall-campaign quarterback Shelly Yanoff (who attended Wednesday's opening - as did Frank Rizzo Jr., mayoral candidate Jim Kenney and former City Councilman Frank DiCicco, among others). Paul L. Nolan is likewise solid as Rizzo's political consigliere, Marty Weinberg.

However, Damon Bonetti as the reporter could have infused his part with a little more condescending swagger, based on H.L. Mencken's famous line that the only way a reporter should look at a politician is down.

"Rizzo" also serves as a fascinating history of a Philadelphia that, in many ways, is hard to imagine today. And that's another of the many rewards of this wonderful production.

"Rizzo," Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St., show times vary, $10-$40, 215-218-4022, theatreexile.org.

On Twitter: @chuckdarrow