Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross

David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic returns to Broadway, starring iconic actor Al Pacino as a real estate salesman embroiled in an all-out war with his colleagues over who sells the most property.

It was amazing to see Pacino back in New York on Broadway, particularly since it is his home town.  Al Pacino was quite familiar with Mamet’s prose, having starred in the 1992 film version of the play.

The fight has gone out of the once-robust boys from “Glengarry Glen Ross,” David Mamet’s 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of sharks in a small pond. Sure, they still curse and rant and beat up on the furniture in the production that formally opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater on Saturday night, after an indecently extended preview period.

These hack real estate salesmen also slam doors hard enough to make walls tremble. They mug their way through their foul-mouthed monologues in a style that begs for (and receives) applause. The eldest of their tribe and this production’s pacesetter is portrayed by a grizzled Al Pacino with the exaggerated pantomiming of a boozy player in a late-night charades game.

Pacino is now playing the role of Shelley Levene, originally played by Jack Lemmon in the movie. Seedy, gritty and humorous would be my take. I don’t think you would be disappointed. Get your tickets now, this is a limited engagement.

I can understand why Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Pacino would want to reconceive “Glengarry” on their own terms. The play was given a superb Tony-winning revival in 2005, directed by Joe Mantello, and starring Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber, a highly caffeinated production that left you short of breath. If discerning theatergoers were going to revisit “Glengarry” less than a decade later, they’d surely demand something different.

Quotes from The New York Times