Billy Crystal's new Broadway production, “860,” at the Imperial Theatre in New York, directly addresses a loss familiar to many Southern Californians: the destruction of his Pacific Palisades home in a 2025 wildfire. The show, impeccably directed by Scott Ellis, takes its title from the address on Chautauqua Boulevard where Crystal and his family lived for decades.
The production re-creates the events of January 7, 2025, as a wildfire that began in the Santa Monica Mountains made its way toward Crystal’s residence. Dressed in a cardigan and standing within a facsimile of his home office, a creation of scenic designer Scott Pask, Crystal re-enacts the difficult decisions of what to salvage as evacuation orders came in. Video clips designed by Hana S. Kim and Kylee Loera show the escalating emergency, making audience members eyewitnesses to the terrible day.
Crystal shares that the photos, awards, and memorabilia were more than just souvenirs of a storied career. They represented a life built with his wife, Janice, and their two daughters, and served as a record of the friendships that made Hollywood a welcoming community for a Long Island kid.
The show uses a series of flashbacks, with Crystal recounting the harrowing drive across a jammed Sunset Boulevard in separate cars with his wife, heading for the safety of their daughter’s house. He describes the scene of smoke and flying embers turning their ocean-view paradise into what felt like an apocalyptic war zone, giving a play-by-play as if calling a World Series game that had taken an unimaginable turn.
The story of his home begins in the late 1970s. While filming the third season of “Soap” — the controversial nighttime parody featuring Crystal as Jodie Dallas, one of television’s first openly gay characters — he and his wife lived in a then-smog-filled Hancock Park. Seeking better air quality for their children, they looked for a new area and heard about the Pacific Palisades. Crystal remembers it as a small town with good schools, afternoon ocean breezes, a main street with shops, and a deli that served lean corned beef to people who knew better than to put mayonnaise on pastrami.
After looking at another property, they noticed a for-sale sign at 860 Chautauqua. The real estate agent explained the owners were “very motivated to sell because they were very motivated not to be together anymore.” In December 1979, with a 30-year mortgage, they moved in. Crystal later discovered the original owners were vaudevillians who had a mind-reading act and a passion for the occult, socializing with figures like humorist Will Rogers. Behind a secret wall, Crystal found a hidden room with clippings that suggested his path to the house might not have been accidental.
“860” is a meditation on loss, but it also functions as a theatrical memoir of Crystal’s multifaceted career. He revisits his days at NYU, where he took a film production class with a young Martin Scorsese, and recounts honing his comic timing in clubs doing stand-up. He shares wisdom imparted by producer Jack Rollins about revealing something of himself in his jokes, and his early triumph opening for Blood, Sweat & Tears in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which helped him find his voice.
Crystal also reflects on pivotal moments like his Howard Cosell-Muhammad Ali routine at a televised gala, which led to a lifelong friendship with Ali, already a personal hero. The show touches on the deep bonds forged in comedy, such as his brotherhood with Robin Williams, and his friendship with Rob Reiner, stemming from Norman Lear casting them as best friends on “All in the Family” and leading to successful collaborations like the famous fake orgasm scene in “When Harry Met Sally.”
Crystal navigates the weight of his losses with wit and a generous spirit. He notes a moment after the fire when, walking into a store for new clothes, a salesclerk looked at him and said, "Let me guess… Ozempic?" The show also touches on the profound tragedy at the end of 2025, when Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle were found stabbed to death at their Brentwood home, an event Crystal conveys with poignant silence, letting the weight of the friendship speak for itself.
Despite the devastation, a stone from Crystal’s garden, engraved with the word “laughter,” was salvaged from the ashes. It serves as a symbol that, as he suggests, laughter can sustain us through our losses. While his previous solo show “700 Sundays” was described as a touch mawkish, “860” is seen as a powerfully moving and brilliantly conceived piece. There's hope among some that the production might eventually make its way home to Los Angeles, bringing its fortifying laughter to the region that inspired it.
