‘American Buffalo’ Review: Starry but Flat Broadway Revival Doesn’t Make the Case for David Mamet
variety.comDaniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThe set of the new Broadway production of “American Buffalo” at Circle in the Square is choked with the unwanted artifacts of recent history.
The show’s two acts take place in a junk shop glutted with relics, one whose barest gestures toward organization are just begging to be undone; the place is already sliding into disorder, so why not finish the job?It’s fitting in more ways than this production may anticipate. “American Buffalo” arrives at its latest Broadway revival laden with a great deal of historical clutter that might make it hard to see on its own terms.
This includes, first, its reputation as an early high point in the long career of its author David Mamet, and a proving-ground, in the key role of small-time crook Teach, for Robert Duvall and Al Pacino, among others.
It also, lately, includes Mamet’s turn toward a strident sort of right-wing political outspokenness, including a recent Fox News appearance in which he claimed that teachers are “inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia.” Mamet’s eagerness to join in a vivified backlash against gay and trans people will likely come as a disappointment to those who see, in works like “American Buffalo,” a rich and textured critique of how this country’s way of life pits citizen against citizen.
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