Hurricane Sandy can come in handy when your star’s not dandy.
The producers of “Glengarry Glen Ross” announced this week that they’re pushing back opening night nearly a month because Sandy cut short rehearsal time.
The original opening was Nov. 11. The new opening is Dec. 8.
But nobody — nobody — is buying the weather-was-bad excuse.
This production’s been in previews since Oct. 9, which means the cast started rehearsals back in August.
They need another three weeks to rehearse a play that runs 100 minutes?
Well, at least Al Pacino does.
I haven’t seen the production yet, but my spies — from a Hollywood studio chief to a high-ranking television executive to my cleaning lady — report that Pacino’s performance isn’t landing. In fact, it’s barely registering. He is, I’m told, being wiped off the stage by his crackerjack colleagues, led by Bobby Cannavale.
The first performances were especially rocky because Pacino didn’t have his lines down. I’ll cut him a little slack in that department, since he’s getting up there in years.
He certainly doesn’t look like Michael Corleone anymore.
More like Maria Ouspenskaya, the old gypsy lady in “The Wolf Man.”
Hurricane Sandy bought him some time to nail down the lines. But now he’s got to get his performance up to snuff. And that’s why the opening’s been delayed, sources say.
Pacino’s playing Shelly Levene, the broken-down real estate salesman trying to score one last deal, in David Mamet’s famous play. It’s a terrific part, played memorably in the movie by Jack Lemmon and on Broadway a few years ago by Alan Alda.
Alda was especially good in that 2005 revival, which was directed with a sure hand by Joe Mantello.
Maybe Mantello should swing by and give the director of this production, Daniel Sullivan, a few notes.
Because from what I’m hearing, his production, like Pacino’s performance, is still a little saggy.
The mixed word of mouth isn’t hurting the box office: The advance sale is more than $6 million. Two weeks ago, I reported that Pacino was struggling with his lines. The day my column ran, one of the show’s producers called to tell me they sold more tickets that day than ever before.
“Come see Al fall on his face!” is, I guess, a pretty good marketing slogan.
Good or bad, stumbling or bumbling, Pacino is a draw, hence his $130,000 a week salary.
(Maybe he should spring for a prompter.)
Will the critics abide by the new opening night? I think so. They don’t seem to be in full-tilt “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” mode just yet. But there had better not be any more postponements. Even the New York Times is sniffing around this story.
The paper dispatched cub reporter Jason Zinoman to the Plaza Hotel the other night to corner Mamet and ask him what was going on with Pacino.
(Zinoman didn’t make much headway since Mamet can be elusive even in public settings. It helps that he’s small.)
Mamet delivered the Wriston Lecture at a dinner sponsored by the Manhattan Institute, a right-wing think tank.
The Right adores Mamet ever since he converted to conservatism after listening to too much NPR.
(Can you blame him? Every time I hear Terry Gross, I want to write in John Bolton for president.)
Mamet’s lecture was packed with nuggets of wisdom, though he should work on his delivery. For a man who’s been in the theater for most of his life, he’s oddly Talmudic behind the podium.
Noting a TV commercial in which several celebrities pledge allegiance to Barack Obama, Mamet said: “I believe this is the first time in American history that anyone has pledged allegiance to a person.”
I asked him a cheeky question: What does he think of T
ony Kushner, Broadway’s leading Stalinist playwright?
Alas, he didn’t take the bait. Kushner is a good writer, Mamet said, adding, “We work opposite sides of the street.” But there’s room for all, he said — the more playwrights, the merrier.
It’s a good thing Pacino isn’t doing a revival of Kushner’s “Angels in America.”
He’d never learn all those lines!