Names and faces

■ Rapper and actor Common will make his Broadway debut this fall in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Between Riverside and Crazy.” The Oscar, Emmy and Grammy award-winner will join actors Stephen McKinley Henderson, Elizabeth Canavan, Liza Colon-Zayas, Victor Almanzar, Michael Rispoli and Rosal Colon — who all premiered the work off-Broadway in 2015. The play centers on a cantankerous ex-cop who owns a piece of real estate on New York City’s Upper West Side and makes it a refuge for the hard-luck orphans who’ve become his surrogate family. Common will play the ex-cop’s newly paroled son, Junior. “Between Riverside and Crazy” will begin previews Nov. 30 and open Dec. 19 at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater. Common starred in the Oscar-nominated film “Selma,” and with John Legend wrote the song, “Glory,” for which he won the 2015 Oscar and 2016 Grammy Award for best original song. He recently wrapped production on Stefon Bristol’s “Breathe” opposite Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich and Quvenzhane Wallis, as well as Apple TV+’s upcoming sci-fi drama series “Wool.”

■ The Grammy-nominated hip-hop performer Mystikal is scheduled for arraignment Monday on charges of raping and choking a woman as well as illegally possessing drugs at his Louisiana home. The charge of first-degree rape carries an automatic life sentence if he’s convicted. “My client is innocent of all charges,” attorney Joel Pearce said last week. He said the rapper, whose given name is Michael Tyler, had a court order to protect him from the woman, and he is “the true victim.” Pearce said he hopes he will be allowed to present evidence supporting bond for Tyler, who has been held since July 31. A judge denied bond Aug. 4, but Pearce, who did not then represent the performer, said it was not a full bond hearing that would take evidence in Tyler’s favor. Tyler is accused of choking and raping the woman at his home in Prairieville, a community of about 33,000 near Baton Rouge. The district attorney’s office said he was indicted Sept. 6 on 10 counts including rape, domestic abuse battery by strangulation and false imprisonment. Investigators found “evidence to corroborate the victim’s account of the rape along with a variety of illegal narcotics,” the office said. In December 2020, Pearce represented Tyler on rape and kidnapping charges that prosecutors in northwest Louisiana ultimately dropped. Those charges, brought in 2017, had kept him jailed nearly 18 months before he was released on $3 million bond. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to sexual battery and served six years in prison. Mystikal said in April 2021 that he was now proud of lyrics he could imagine rapping to God. His 2000 hit “Shake (It Fast)” earned a 2001 Grammy nomination for best rap solo. In 2003, his “Tarantula” was nominated for best rap album and the single “Bouncin’ Back” for best male rap solo.

Common

Tyler