B'way/Off-B'way Reviews: Glengarry Glen Ross; Deep Blue Sound

John Pirruccello and Kieran Culkin in
Glengarry Glen Ross.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet’s savagely funny takedown of cutthroat Chicago real-estate salesmen, has been a magnet for male actors to prove their theatrical chops since it premiered on Broadway in 1984. The flashiest role, chief barracuda Ricky Roma, has attracted Joseph Mantegna, Liev Schreiber, Al Pacino, and Bobby Cannavale, resulting in Tonys for the first two and an Oscar nomination for the third for the 1993 movie version. Ironically, the main box office draw for the current, third Broadway revival of Glengarry is Kieran Culkin, Emmy winner for Succession and Oscar champ for A Real Pain, and he is the weak link in an otherwise strong ensemble. 

Culkin is no novice to the stage, having appeared to great advantage in numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including This Is Our Youth and Suburbia, yet he seems out of his depth here. Roma is a shark of the first order, but Culkin plays him as a loud-mouthed guppy. We first meet Roma landing a malleable prospect (appropriately browbeaten John Pirruccello) in a Chinese restaurant (Scott Pask designed the realistic sets.) Rather than displaying Roma’s take-no-prisoners, charismatic sales spiel of Mamet double-talk, Culkin opts for quiet subtlety. In previous productions, Roma aggressively lands his mark and the final line of “Listen to what I’m telling you now” felt like the trap was sprung. Here, Culkin seems to be just chatting amiably with a random stranger. That could be a deliberate choice on the part of the actor and director (Patrick Marber in a low-key mode) to show a contrast between Roma’s cosy sales technique and his later profane, predatory behavior in the office after the intermission. But Culkin never achieves the alpha male status of previous Romas, despite some energetic limning in the second act.

Bob Odenkirk and Donald Webber, Jr.
in Glengarry Glen Ross.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

Thus the balance of the play is thrown off and the focus shifts from Roma to the conflict between veteran slumping drummer Shelley Levine (deliciously desperate and blustering Bob Odenkirk) and the corporate functionary/office manager John Williamson (an unexpectedly forceful Donald Webber, Jr.). In previous productions, Williamson has been played as an emotionless drone, representing the soulless owners of the real-estate business, the unseen Mitch and Murray who symbolize the heartless corporate bureaucracy the nasty but individualist Roma stands against. Here, Webber plays Williamson as just as intensely invested in keeping his job as his supervisees. When the weaker Culkin as Roma challenges a now stronger Williamson, the threat is not especially effective. Culkin comes across as a tantrum-throwing student yelling at a teacher which is ironic since he berates Williamson as being a “child” unfit to work with “men.”

NYDCC and OCC Awards

Two major theater critics' groups, the New York Drama Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle, handed out their annual awards last week. At both ceremonies, the winners were known in advance, so everyone could relax. The NY Drama Critics Circle was held at 54 Below on Tues. May 21 with Circle president Adam Feldman of Time Out New York presiding. Jim Walton of the original cast of Merrily We Roll Along presented the special award to Maria Friedman, director of the revival. Walton said he imagined when Stephen Sondheim got to heaven, God said to him, "Steve, I think I know how to fix Merrily." This is because the show has gone through so many iterations and revivals since its infamous 1981 flop run on Broadway. 

Guy Davis and Hasna Muhammad
with their sister Nora Day on the phone
accepting the NYDCC award for
their father's play Purlie Victorious.

Jonathan McCrory, artistic director of the National Black Theater, presented the special award for the Purlie Victorious revival to Guy Davis and Hasna Muhammad, the children of playwright Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee who co-starred with her husband in the original 1961 Broadway production. Guy was carrying his cell phone so that their sister Nora Day could join in on Face Time. 

Hasna related how their dad originally wrote the play in anger in reaction to what was happening to black people in the South at the time. Davis and Dee were working on a production of The World of Sholom Alcheim and the actor-playwright was inspired by the humor of the Alcheim stories to use satire and wit to address the injust situation. She also told that their mother was not originally chosen for the role of Lutiebelle since she was primarily a dramatic actress. She had to audition for her husband's play.

Stereophonic, Dead Outlaw Top NYDCC Awards

Dead Outlaw was voted Best Musical
by the New York Drama Critics Circle
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Stereophonic and Dead Outlaw were named Best Play and Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle during its 88th annual meeting on May 13 to chose the top productions of the season. The awards, which will be presented during a private ceremony on Tuesday, May 21, include a cash prize of $2,500 for best play, made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

A joint special citation was awarded to the revivals of Merrily We Roll Along and Purlie Victorious. A joint special citation was also awarded to married actors Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders for lifetime achievement; Ms. Plunkett appeared this season in The Notebook and Deep Blue Sound, Mr. Sanders in Primary Trust and Purlie Victorious. They also appeared in Richard Nelson's Rhinebeck Panorama cycle of plays at the Public Theater and on Zoom during the COVID pandemic. A third special citation was awarded to writer-composer Heather Christian, whose Terce: A Practical Breviary premiered this season.

Jay O. Sanders and Maryann Plunkett
seen here in What Happened: The Michaels Abroad
will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award
Credit: Jason Ardizzone-West