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.