Theater on Both Sides - Cast of Titans

'Tis the season of Mamet. Ben Brantley took care of Anarchist at the John Golden theater, but as for Glengarry Glen Ross, despite having begun previews on Nov. 11, the reviews are not yet out.  This is because it doesn't open until the 8th of December.  Officially this is because of Sandy, unofficially this is because Al Pacino supposedly doesn't know his lines.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure Pacino was the right choice for his role.  In this production, he plays Levine.  He is ageing and failing; he can no longer sell and is grasping at straws.  Al Pacino is ageing, but he reads - to me at least - as a bit too confident for the role.  He really was perfect in the movie as Roma (played excellently in this production by Bobby Cannavale) and Jack Lemmon really was the quintessential Levine.  The other roles of the play are cast perfectly (John C. McGinley is perfect as Moss), but I have some serious reservations about Pacino.  I feel terrible about saying this, but it's the case.  It's just enough to draw me out of the world of the play slightly.
The world of the play is really ingeniously crafted.  The entire first act is set in a Chinese Restaurant, which is brought to life brilliantly with little touches like a child's high-seat or the subtly shifting window (the pattern of a window is cast onto the set in the cool tones of night from a different angle for each scene).  It really is a believable Midwestern Chinese restaurant.  When the action shifts to the office of the real estate company, you really feel like there's something in every filing cabinet.  For me, it called to mind the set of Gatz at The Public which was actually stocked with the theater's tax returns from many years back to make it look like a real office.

The production is certainly worth it.  It features some titans of acting.  But I'm not entirely certain that it is worth the hype of the marquis name.  Al Pacino is doubtless a great actor, but I'm not entirely sure he was right for the part.  The show does not suffer with regard to quality because he is in it, it suffers some with regard to believability.  Al Pacino's Levine doesn't read to me like someone who would take the drastic step of stealing the leads that are so crucial to the action of the play.

GATZ

Having just recovered from the theatrical experience of a lifetime, I figure I should try to explain just how truly cool The Elevator Repair Service's GATZ is.  Which might be a little futile, since tickets were sold out the day it came back to The Public Theater and it hardly needs more accolades, but I'll still make a go of it.

This is a theatrical endurance test.  My back still hurts from sitting in the Newman Theater's rather uncomfortable seats.  The audience sits down at 3 PM and the play is over at around 11 PM.  That includes two intermissions and a dinner break (I went to the B Bar & Grill, which was delicious), but that's still really freaking long.  But it is so worth it.  Set in an grimy, dingy office, the play begins with a man sitting down to his desk, discovering his computer isn't working, finding a copy of Fitzgerald's book, and beginning to read.  As he continues to read, the other people in his office begin to fall into place as the character from the novel.  As the play progresses, it seems that the text begins to take over and it becomes hard to tell who's in charge: the people populating the world of this office or Fitzgerald's meticulously chosen words.  Slowly but surely the evidence that this is an office is taken away, and by the time the narrator gets to the last chapter the files and computers that cluttered the desks have been whisked away, leaving Nick alone with the text.  Quite frankly, it's somewhat disturbing.  The light has faded to a blue gray, the sound design is gone (the technician/actor leaves after discharging his roles as various NYC people, Michalis, and the Lutheran Minister) and much of the furniture has been removed.  It's remarkably unsettling, but you can't take your eyes off the stage in much the same way that the people of the Ash Heaps are transfixed by the accident that kills Myrtle Wilson.  It is truly remarkable.  Only Fitzgerald's text remains.  And that is the only text involved in this production.  It is ostensibly a live action audiobook.  True, other things are said on stage, but they are not audible and gradually the tasks of the office stop intruding as everyone gets wrapped up in playing their parts.  The only complaint I might make about the productions regards Jordan, who takes her epithet "jaunty" very seriously which renders her performance somewhat robotic, but truly this production was remarkable.

Also, the actor who plays Nick has all 49,000 words of the text memorized.  It makes you want to cry out to the skies "What is this madness!?", right?