I made $970,000 last year. How much you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing. Nice guy, I don't give a shit. Good father, fuck you. Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here, close.

When I heard Glengarry Glen Ross was coming to Broadway, I knew I was going to go, but I had reservations. Anyone who's seen the movie knows, it's a story light on plot and long on character development, characters that at times make very long and somewhat tedious speeches...mostly about leads. Don't get me wrong, I think Mamet's writing is brilliant, but he sure does love to read his words on the page.

But that was the greatest thing about this production. The director has taken a machete to the script, hacking away entire scenes. (Blake, the character played by Alec Baldwin in the movie, isn't even in the play, so we don't get the famous "steak knives" speech.) And the result is rapid-fire, serve and volley action from beginning to end. The entire first act, a series of three conversations in a chinese restaurant, is just thirty-five minutes long. I swear, when the intermission lights came up, everybody in the audience was like...was that it? But you could tell we were all excited to get back to the action in act two. (By the way, I don't think I've ever seen a set get a round of applause, and the office in the second act did)

Liev Schreiber, as Ricky Roma, is the star of the show. Roma is the top seller of the office, and Schreiber's staccato delivery was perfect...180 degrees from characters like the young, but very deliberate Orson Welles he played in RKO 281. And Alan Alda was made to play Shelley Levine. You're half pulling for him, half physically worn down by him. Alright, already...he needs a break, give him the damn leads.

I don't think it's for everyone, but if you like Mamet, or if you like well-developed characters, or if you like to hear the word "fuck" alot, go see Glengarry Glen Ross.

There...not really effusive, but fairly ebullient.