Sam Rockwell, left, and Laurence Fishburne in a revival of “American Buffalo” at Circle in the Square in Manhattan.Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Yours's truly normally never talks about reviews of a given work as few critics really get the gist of what the artist is trying to say as it's easy to criticize, much harder to create but this is one review where Jesse Green's spot on, particularly in terms of articulating how American Buffalo relates to the state of America and how passionately it connects to rampant capitalism.
In the electric revival that opened on Thursday at Circle in the Square, Teach is embodied with coiled and then terrifyingly uncoiled ferocity by Sam Rockwell, making a great occasion of a great role. When he first skitters into the junk shop run by his poker buddy Don — Laurence Fishburne in a beautifully considered performance — he’s already seething about a petty insult and stalking the joint like a rat-peacock hybrid. By the time he inserts himself into a heist Don is planning with his dim young gofer and protégé, Bobby, played by the angelic if underpowered Darren Criss, he is so hopped up on delusions of profit that he endangers the operation he means to abet.
It's the way of things, right?
To see “American Buffalo” now, in a time when everyone seems to talk like Teach, is to be unsurprised — and thus, in a way, more harrowed. What could be more terrible than to realize we’ve acclimated to the ideas the play introduced?
Channeling Godot with a twist ...
“I don’t think I’m saying anything here.”
“It makes no earthly difference in the world.”
“You want to find a reason we should jump all over each other all of a sudden like we work in a bloodbank, fine. But it’s not good business.”
Laurence Fishburne, left, with Darren Criss in the play. The audience sits on three sides of Circle’s capsule-shaped stage, with junk interrupting the sightlines.Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
It's all about the money, always has been, always will be. - Robert E.
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