Fishburne/Rockwell in "American Buffalo" on Broadway

I think it might become a trend where people bunch them up quickly with all the opportunities available in TV now ...........I always bring up the Triple Crown because it's so rare and cool but one day it won't be .......it will be like the Oscars where everybody has one

Alan Arkin could also join the TC next week!

...........in case anyone is near NYC and wants to see a classic play - I will be going - first Broadway show I'll have seen in over 2 years........wtf :

16 WEEKS ONLY
BROADWAY PREVIEWS BEGIN MARCH 22, 2022

Very faithful and swift version - of my favorite play - with no clear demarcation of setting, time, era - which could be handled through production design - and maybe will be when it officially opens. The play involves a lot of loitering - so it can sometimes vary in how fast it runs or whether the staging lacks energy - this one plays as it reads.

Fishburne & Rockwell are pretty greatish but not in an overwhelmingly noticeable way - I've seen better Donny's in some ways  
- but this is probably my favorite Teach that I've seen (never saw the GOAT do it) - though it isn't "a tour de force like it has been known to be"...........I always think there should be some kind of quirky connection with Donny and Teach - an attraction? a simmering hatred? a brother-type thing of one-upmanship, a competition - otherwise they just end up yelling at each other and you miss a lot of things that you can pull out of the text (like in the movie where, Donny just seems just cranky and constipated).

Here, they still don't have anything like that - but they have a real rapport through the well-played dialog at least. The color difference between Fishburne & Rockwell is just ignored here - which is probably a mistake tbh - though it isn't a botch like having Bobby be of a different race while Donny and Teach are both white - as in the lame movie. Here it's a non-factor, though it could add a charged element this staging misses - for now at least.

Darren Criss who I have said was overrated in his big acclaimed role - the Versace TV movie that won him an Emmy - is pretty good but not particularly special, he gets better as he goes along when he needs to be really scared - of Teach but also of Donny in some ways too - who may snap first - though Fishburne doesn't have that quite as much as some Donny's I've seen......Fishburne does have the wisdom down pat, and Donny's tired feel too perfectly though - and he can rage when he has to .........more towards the end of course.

If you didn't know this was a big famous David Mamet play with a famous performance by the young-ish Al Pacino you'd think Rockwell was doing an Al Pacino impression in some ways, down to his vocal inflections / line readings and tics. He's a ball of energy ........and ventures into Pacino-territory with that stuff but brings his own caffeinated swagger in his own way..........not sure if this will get Tony Awards love - Fishburne has a Tony award and they love to nod past nominees......... but it's a pretty "trapped" production and unclear in era or a unique POV in 2022, though the acting is aces at times. It is also very much an ensemble version - where no one dominates the show in what it conveys.

This could be changed a bit when this ends its previews - a lot of this is staged to one side of an overcrowded stage and then the actors are at times static not loitering - sometimes you notice Rockwell literally avoiding props on stage (and wires) - for no real reason - just block it a different way and make the stage less cluttered too ........an easy change, and would loosen everything up, and give everyone room to move.

It's a cluttered production design trap in some ways right now that just gives milieu not anything more and creates problems.......Rockwell is very partial to this set though in picking things off the desk or throwing things in the air and catching them.....I could see that changing in a less cluttered staging - he had a great moment banging his thigh with a plate (or maybe a frisbee?) that they should keep that in!