Broadway Review: “Glengarry Glen Ross” Gets a Viciously Slick Revival - AmNews Curtain Raiser

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Friday, April 4, 2025

Broadway Review: “Glengarry Glen Ross” Gets a Viciously Slick Revival

 

 
 PHOTOS CREDIT: Emilio Madrid
John Pirruccello, Kieran Culkin

Broadway Review: “Glengarry Glen Ross” Gets a Viciously Slick Revival

One of the hottest tickets on Broadway right now? The new revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, a blistering satire of American salesmanship and the cult of winning, now playing at the Palace Theatre. Directed with razor precision by Patrick Marber, this production features a knockout ensemble: Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr, Michael McKean, Donald Webber Jr., Howard W. Overshawn, and John Pirruccello.

Culkin takes the lead as Richard Roma, the slickest shark in a sea of sleaze—young, sharp, and utterly untrustworthy. He’s the top dog on the sales leaderboard, edging dangerously close to the $100,000 mark that would earn him a Cadillac and corporate glory. The stakes? The two lowest sellers are fired. No second chances. No safety nets.

Set in a claustrophobic Chicago boiler room, the men push worthless Florida land—Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms—onto hapless buyers. These salesmen aren’t just unethical. They’re fully aware they’re scamming people. And they do it anyway. Mamet's men are predators in suits, and this cast doesn’t flinch from the moral rot.

Odenkirk’s Shelley Levene, once a legend, is now a ghost of his former self—desperate, sweating, and dead last in the rankings. His scenes opposite Donald Webber Jr.'s ice-cold office manager, John Williamson, are gutting. Watching Levene beg for decent leads is like watching a man drown in real time. Webber doesn’t budge. Not even a flicker.

Bill Burr as the hot-tempered Moss and Michael McKean as the nervy Aaronow add tension and comic edge, plotting and pacing like cornered animals. Everyone's got something to lose—and they all know it.

The play opens in a dingy Chinese restaurant (Act One), then shifts to the stripped-down office the morning after a robbery (Act Two). The mood is bleak, the air thick with failure, and yet—it crackles.

Mamet wrote Glengarry 41 years ago. The script hasn’t aged a day. Its take on weaponized capitalism, moral compromise, and the American obsession with winning feels sharper than ever. Sit with that.

The Details:
Location: Palace Theatre, 1,306 seats
Top non-premium ticket: $399
Opened: March 31, 2025
Reviewed: March 29
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes (no intermission)

Creative Team:
Directed by Patrick Marber
Set and costumes by Scott Pask
Lighting by Jen Schriever
Production stage manager: Barclay Stiff

Presented by: Jeffrey Richards, Rebecca Gold, Caiola Productions, Roy Furman, and an extensive team including The Shubert Organization.

Cast:
Kieran Culkin (Richard Roma)
Bob Odenkirk (Shelley Levene)
Bill Burr (Dave Moss)
Michael McKean (George Aaronow)
Donald Webber Jr. (John Williamson)
Howard W. Overshawn, John Pirruccello

TICKETING INFORMATION


BroadwayDirect.com 


 GlengarryonBroadway.com


“DAVID MAMET IS ONE OF AMERICA’S GREATEST LIVING PLAYWRIGHTS.”

-The New York Times

 

“A GREAT PLAY. A SAVORY, PROFANE, LANGUAGE BANQUET FROM PLAYWRIGHT DAVID MAMET.”

-New York Magazine

 

“A GORGEOUS AND VICIOUS COMEDY. THE PLAY COULD BE RETITLED DEATH OF A FUCKIN’ SALESMAN.”

-The New Yorker

 

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS IS ONE NASTY PIECE OF WORK. THE BANTER IS SO CALLOUS AND SARDONIC, YOU COULD SIT THROUGH IT HAPPILY ALL DAY.”

-The Washington Post



 

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