Billy Crystal Swaps a Pity Party for a Broadway Valentine

For Billy Crystal, 2025 was something of an annus horribilis: It began with the Pacific Palisades fire, which obliterated the home where the beloved actor and comedian and his family had lived for 46 years, and ended with the violent deaths of one of his closest friends and colleagues, Rob Reiner, and Reiner’s wife.The fire is the starting point and provides the frame for Mr. Crystal’s new solo show, “860,” named after the number in that house’s address on Chautauqua Boulevard in Los Angeles. But this one-act piece, written by Mr. Crystal and adroitly helmed by veteran director Scott Ellis, finds him reflecting on different aspects of his life and career, with an emphasis on the loved ones who have made it worthwhile in good times and bad.“860” is, in fact, much more of a valentine than a pity party, and as such it’s a clear successor to “700 Sundays,” the show that marked Mr. Crystal’s Broadway debut back in 2004, an homage to the father he lost at just 15 years old. Mr. Crystal’s wife of nearly six decades, Janice, gets special attention; her name is literally the first word we hear, as he remembers them scrambling to evacuate their home as the smoke grew closer.“Janice said, ‘Let’s gather some things,’” Mr. Crystal recalls, moments later. “She’s the more practical one: She’s thinking about medicines and prescriptions. I’m thinking about the half of a veal parmesan hero that’s in the refrigerator.”Other figures we meet, sometimes through Mr. Crystal’s famously winning impersonations, range from Muhammad Ali to David Clayton-Thomas, lead singer of the classic rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears, who pops up in one of a number of amusing stories the star recalls in charting his rise in show business. Throughout the show’s 95 minutes, we’re reminded of the qualities that have made Mr. Crystal the best Academy Awards host, post-Johnny Carson: He can be witty and irreverent without being snarky, inviting viewers in rather than trying to come across as the smartest or edgiest guy in the room. Notably, “860” takes a few big jabs at the current occupant of the White House, without mentioning him by name, but Mr. Crystal never seems snooty or mean-spirited.Hana S. Kim and Kylee Loera’s playful video design incorporates clips from Mr. Crystal’s noted film and television work. We’re reminded, hilariously, how groundbreaking his gay character in the 1970s TV series “Soap” was; later, he gives us the inside scoop on an improvised exchange with Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally.” (It’s not the scene where her Sally fakes an orgasm, though that’s referenced too.)But the real star of “860” is Janice Crystal. She and Mr. Crystal have been married for 56 years, which in Hollywood adds up to roughly three eternities. Towards the end, reflecting on how last year’s events have made him consider mortality more, he admits, “I can’t bear to think of life without her. I want to go first because I don’t want to miss her. That would be a pain far worse than death.”Out of context, those words may seem sentimental or morose, or just jarringly personal. But at a time when oversharing has grown increasingly popular among celebrities, and civilians, Mr. Crystal’s confessions don’t seem contrived, especially when you consider the real-life drama informing them.Even more notably, that drama seems to have inspired Mr. Crystal to, above all else, count his blessings. Cynics may note that he has more of those than most of us, but one takeaway of “860” is that wealth and fame aren’t the real keys to happiness, and if that’s a corny message, it still carries wisdom and comfort.

Billy Crystal Swaps a Pity Party for a Broadway Valentine

Billy Crystal Swaps a Pity Party for a Broadway Valentine

More from the New York Sun

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Benjamin Button’ Comes of Age on Stage

There Is a Golden Age Coming, but It Must Be Based on Free Enterprise, Not Socialism

Central Park Carriage Horses Could Be Put Down After Ban, Owners Tell the Sun

Divided Supreme Court Pauses End of Hormone Therapy in Federal Prisons

Justice Kagan Removes Her Blindfold

Mullahs Losing Leverage in the Persian Gulf

‘Clayface’ Gives Gotham City a Frightening New Look

Will Common Sense Doom the Wealth Tax for California?

More from the New York Sun

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Benjamin Button’ Comes of Age on Stage

There Is a Golden Age Coming, but It Must Be Based on Free Enterprise, Not Socialism

Central Park Carriage Horses Could Be Put Down After Ban, Owners Tell the Sun

Divided Supreme Court Pauses End of Hormone Therapy in Federal Prisons

Justice Kagan Removes Her Blindfold

Mullahs Losing Leverage in the Persian Gulf

‘Clayface’ Gives Gotham City a Frightening New Look

Will Common Sense Doom the Wealth Tax for California?