#1
Posted: 4/27/05 at 12:28am
Another FANTASTIC play this season. I thought The Pillowman and Doubt were in a league of their own this year but along comes this.
Although I'd heard of the movie I've actually never seen it or the original production, so I might not have a certain background to review this (not too sure if that's a good or a bad thing).
I'm sure most of you know what this play is all about but in a few words, it's about salesmen and their boss of a real estate firm who are desperately trying to earn a living and are driven to extreme measures to secure deals.
The show is only about 1 hour and 45 minutes and has the intermission after only 35 minutes which really surprised me. I would have prefered no intermission at all as it was very fast moving. After the intermission I understood why they needed it but more to that later.
The first act is set in a bar where the individual characters are introduced in three different scenes in one-to-one chats.
In the first conversation you get to know salesman Shelly Levene (Alan Alda) who is desperately trying to convince (and bribe) his supervisor John (Frederick Weller) to give him better leads.
We then move on to salesman Dave Moss (Gordon Clapp) who is putting his colleague George (Jeffrey Tambor) under pressure to break into the firm to steal the leads, so that they can make money out of it.
In the final scene we see salesman Richard Roma (Liev Schreiber) trying to 'introduce' himself to a possible buyer James Lingk (Tom Wopat). And this is where the curtain comes down after 35 minutes.
After the intermission I witnessed for the first time that people actually applauded the set. The curtain goes up and all of a sudden you are in the real estate firm that was just broken into. The set looks amazing and how they managed to set this all up during intermission is astonishing. The set has everything, from different rooms to an outside area, I was very impressed.
Without giving away too much, the second act concentrates on the investigation of the robbery where all leads and phones etc were stolen. Already established in the first act but here in the second act you really get the sense of desperation and pressure these guys are under. If you haven't seen the movie there is a nice twist to the story towards the end which I won't give away.
This production completely blew me and the rest of the audience away. The house was almost full and the cast received an amazing response at the end which was great to see.
The cast is wonderful and I seem to remember that not a lot of people had Glengarry Glen Ross on their possible Tony list but with these performances they cannot be ignored. Every single one of these guys is wonderful and almost every single one of them received some sort of applause after their exit in one scene which is pretty unusual in plays.
I can only give the highest praise to Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber who were both outstanding in my opinion and I'm really hoping that they will be recognized for their performance.
One last thing I would like to add: When I left the theatre I heard a few people complaining about the language. The f-word is probably used at least 100 times with a few c-words thrown in here and there, so definitely not for the faint-hearted.
QM
Although I'd heard of the movie I've actually never seen it or the original production, so I might not have a certain background to review this (not too sure if that's a good or a bad thing).
I'm sure most of you know what this play is all about but in a few words, it's about salesmen and their boss of a real estate firm who are desperately trying to earn a living and are driven to extreme measures to secure deals.
The show is only about 1 hour and 45 minutes and has the intermission after only 35 minutes which really surprised me. I would have prefered no intermission at all as it was very fast moving. After the intermission I understood why they needed it but more to that later.
The first act is set in a bar where the individual characters are introduced in three different scenes in one-to-one chats.
In the first conversation you get to know salesman Shelly Levene (Alan Alda) who is desperately trying to convince (and bribe) his supervisor John (Frederick Weller) to give him better leads.
We then move on to salesman Dave Moss (Gordon Clapp) who is putting his colleague George (Jeffrey Tambor) under pressure to break into the firm to steal the leads, so that they can make money out of it.
In the final scene we see salesman Richard Roma (Liev Schreiber) trying to 'introduce' himself to a possible buyer James Lingk (Tom Wopat). And this is where the curtain comes down after 35 minutes.
After the intermission I witnessed for the first time that people actually applauded the set. The curtain goes up and all of a sudden you are in the real estate firm that was just broken into. The set looks amazing and how they managed to set this all up during intermission is astonishing. The set has everything, from different rooms to an outside area, I was very impressed.
Without giving away too much, the second act concentrates on the investigation of the robbery where all leads and phones etc were stolen. Already established in the first act but here in the second act you really get the sense of desperation and pressure these guys are under. If you haven't seen the movie there is a nice twist to the story towards the end which I won't give away.
This production completely blew me and the rest of the audience away. The house was almost full and the cast received an amazing response at the end which was great to see.
The cast is wonderful and I seem to remember that not a lot of people had Glengarry Glen Ross on their possible Tony list but with these performances they cannot be ignored. Every single one of these guys is wonderful and almost every single one of them received some sort of applause after their exit in one scene which is pretty unusual in plays.
I can only give the highest praise to Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber who were both outstanding in my opinion and I'm really hoping that they will be recognized for their performance.
One last thing I would like to add: When I left the theatre I heard a few people complaining about the language. The f-word is probably used at least 100 times with a few c-words thrown in here and there, so definitely not for the faint-hearted.
QM
'He really wasn't good as Fieyro. Is it just me or does he sort of come across as a pimp? Just...the hand motions I've seen him do and the attitude..not that Taye is a pimp.' - SallyBrown on Taye Diggs as Fiyero
Updated On: 4/27/05 at 12:28 AM
