Based on the ecstatic reviews for the new Broadway revival of Speed-the-Plow, I was prepared to be blown away. But I wasn't. It was great to see Jeremy Piven onstage, and not because he's hot. Not just because he's hot. ("You're just a very special girl, June...") And Neil Pepe's direction is taut and crackling.
But two things made the production disappointing for me: David Mamet's script and Raul Esparza's performance. We'll get back to Esparza in a second, but with respect to the play itself, am I missing something? Because once you get past Mamet's admittedly impressive rapid-fire dialog in Speed-the-Plow, the play seems pretty one-dimensional. Hollywood producers are back-stabbing, soulless, money-grubbing, assholes. Stop the presses. I just don't see anything profound or insightful here.
As I said , Esparza is a bit of a disappointment as Charlie Fox, the ambitious but frustrated second-tier producer. Esparza is terrific during the confrontation scenes with Piven's character, but when it comes to the comedy, he delivers many of his lines like a guest star on "Two and a Half Men." Rather than trusting the humor inherent in Mamet's script, he punctuates each punchline as though he were working the Borscht Belt. Again, he does acquit himself, at least partially, in the third act when he cracks open and the desperation takes over.
That said, Jeremy Piven and Elizabeth Moss are exceptional, bringing an understated realism to Mamet's sharp, fragmented dialog. I wasn't familiar with Moss before seeing this show. (I don't really watch a lot of TV, although I hear that Moss's show "Mad Men" is terrific.) Piven demonstrates great comfort with the stage and with Mamet in particular. And Moss brings credibility and subtlety to the dual nature of the Karen character. I'm sure it's a major revelation to those who saw Madonna in the original production that, if you cast someone who can actually act, the part and the play work much better. (Madonna should never attempt to act again, in any medium. And now that she's divorcing her hottie husband, director Guy Ritchie, it's rather unlikely that anyone else will give her the chance. But you never know.)
But, again, overall I wasn't impressed with Speed-the-Plow. Of all the star-studded revivals on Broadway this fall, Speed-the-Plow proves itself a middling entry. For my money, the production to see is The Seagull, in particular for the shimmering performances of both Kristen Scott Thomas and Carey Mulligan.
