American Buffalo Goes Extinct on Broadway

The season's second David Mamet revival on Broadway, American Buffalo—which officially opened Monday on the heels of Speed the Plow, the playwright's Hollywood satire—is toast. Oh well, this is what happens to a show when its review in the Times begins: "Ssssssssst. That whooshing noise coming from the Belasco Theater is the sound of the air being let out of David Mamet’s dialogue. Robert Falls’s deflated revival...evokes the woeful image of a souped-up sports car’s flat tire, built for speed but going nowhere." In the wake of the Times pan, it was announced today that the production, which stars John Leguizamo, Cedric the Entertainer and Haley Joel Osment, will likely close on Sunday. One only hopes the Mamet-esque announcement that preceded each performance—"We kindly request that you turn off your f#cking cell phones"—will get the Tony nod it so richly deserves.

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By John Del Signore in Arts and Events on November 20, 2008 2:29 PM

Comments [rss]

S_R

I too felt the same way about seeing that Cedric was in the cast, but he was surprisingly better than one might guess. He actually acted, and was very tasteful. Had I not known of his prior doings, I would have guessed he was a solely a theater actor, judging by his performance. All three of them worked pretty hard on the performance I saw.

NannyState

^ Exactly. John Leguizamo + Cedric The Entertainer usually equals Letdown.

dev

i'm very much into legitimate theater...certainly not one to see Shrek...

but i don't consider cedric the entertainer to be legitimate...

any of the three, really...they seem completely miscast for Mamet.