It is always a pleasure to listen to David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.  Among the employees of a sleazy Chicago real estate firm, language is a weapon, and volume (in both senses of the word) is key: if you talk fast enough and long enough, you can wear down your opponent and win.  Here is a sample, to give a sense of both its vulgarity and its musicality: “You stupid fucking cunt.  You, Williamson.  I’m talking to you, shithead.  You just cost me six thousand dollars.  And one Cadillac.  That’s right.  What are you going to do about it?  What are you going to do about it, asshole.  You fucking shit.  Where did you learn your trade.  You stupid fucking cunt.  You idiot.  Whoever told you you could work with men?”  The play is a marathon of this kind of chest-beating speech.

The casting of the new revival at the Palace Theatre makes perfect sense: Bob Odenkirk is Shelley “The Machine” Levene, a has-been still talking about his sales numbers from the early ’eighties.  Jack Lemmon played him in the movie and Al Pacino in the last Broadway revival, over ten years ago.  Odenkirk has a touch of Midwestern nice that suits this schlemiel well—he seems a little out of his league next to his coworkers.  Kieran Culkin plays Richard Roma, the most successful salesman in the office, and Bill Burr is Dave Moss, the blowhard who hatches the scheme to rob the office of its list of premium leads.  Burr already sounds like a David Mamet character, and he slips into this one with apparent ease. Michael McKean is the best of the bunch, playing George Aaronow, the only redeemable character here.

In other words, this revival, directed by Patrick Marber, meets expectations.  That is more than enough, considering the source material.  Still, I find myself wishing it had exceeded expectations, or perhaps just surprised me.  While I had a great time, I left this production with no new thoughts about Glengarry Glen Ross.

Glengarry Glen Ross runs through June 28th at the Palace Theatre.  1564 Broadway  New York, NY.  1 hour 45 minutes.  One intermission. Photograph by Emilio Madrid.