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For Al Pacino, returning to Broadway is a return home.
“It’s a joy to be on any stage, anywhere, but Broadway in particular, because it’s my home,” the two-time Tony Award winner confessed at a press conference for the revival of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Glengarry Glen Ross. “It’s where I started, and where I had my debut, where my life changed when I did a play called Does A Tiger Wear A Necktie? many years ago.”
Pacino should be quite familiar with Mamet’s prose, having starred in the 1992 film version of the play about the seedy underbelly of Chicago real estate agents. This time around, with twenty more years under his belt, Pacino has graduated to the role of Shelley Levene, originally played by Jack Lemmon in the movie.
Joining Pacino, and tackling the character of Ricky Roma (Pacino’s role in the film version) is Emmy Award winner Bobby Cannavale (Will & Grace). Rounding out the cast are David Harbour, Jeremy Shamos, Richard Schiff, John C. McGinley and Murphy Guyer. The revival is being directed by Daniel Sullivan, who also directed Pacino on Broadway in The Merchant of Venice.
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Pacino says Mamet’s style of writing may seem simple, but it’s far from it. “At first, you think it’s naturalism, but it isn’t,” explains The Godfather actor. “It’s not naturalism. The dialect is different. But it gives the appearance of being natural.”
He adds, “It’s one of the best plays I know… about business, and certainly about American business. It’s a play that continues to change, as all great plays do, with the times.”
The Broadway revival of Glengarry Glen Ross will start previews October 16 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. It officially opens on November 11 and is scheduled to run through December 30.
Watch video from the press conference courtesy of Playbill.com below:
Email: Joshua.Stecker@thr.com; Twitter: @joshuastecker
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