Tony Talk: Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr could all earn nominations for ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
Welcome to Tony Talk, a column in which Gold Derby contributors Sam Eckmann and David Buchanan offer Tony Awards analysis. Join us as we take you inside the Palace Theatre to discuss the star-studded Broadway revival of David Mamet's profane classic, Glengarry Glen Ross.
David Buchanan: Yesterday, we shared our thoughts on Sarah Snook's Broadway debut in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but we absolutely had to reconvene again today to talk about her Succession sibling as Kieran Culkin just opened Glengarry Glen Ross last night. This is a pretty unique revival, not only because it has attracted all-star talent including recent Oscar winner Culkin, Bill Burr, Bob Odenkirk, and Michael McKean, but also because it's playing the Palace Theatre, which hasn't featured a drama since Frankenstein in 1981. How do you think this incredible ensemble filled the legendary theater, and how many of the cast might get nominated at the Tonys?
Sam Eckmann: I admit that I was worried about this particular drama being able to fill up the gargantuan Palace Theatre, but director Patrick Marber has done great work to make this story fill a larger-than-usual space while maintaining its intimate and kinetic energy. The cast is uniformly excellent and since all these men are going to be competing in the Featured Actor category, the question truly does become: just how many acting nominations can one play pull in to a single race? Kieran Culkin is of course top of mind for most prognosticators. He's on a hot streak after winning an Emmy and Oscar, and a Tony win would help him quickly complete the acting triple crown. His role of Richard Roma is such perfect awards bait that it's already helped Joe Mantegna and Liev Schreiber win Tonys for past productions. Should Culkin also win, Richard Roma will be the winningest character in the history of the Featured Actor in a Play category. Culkin's brash energy translates perfectly to this success-hungry slimeball and he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand all night. But based on what I saw, and stellar notices from critics, Culkin might not be the only "closer" in the category. How many of these men are you predicting?
Buchanan: Believe it or not, I'm actually predicting three Glengarry performers at the moment. I certainly wouldn't argue with anyone if they said that three is overkill, but it wouldn't be the first time that this play actually pulled off the feat. The 2005, equally starry revival landed three noms in this category for Alan Alda, Schreiber, and Gordon Clapp, who played Levene, Roma, and Moss, respectively. Those are precisely the three roles I'm betting on this year, for Odenkirk, Culkin, and Burr. Even before the show started previews, I locked in Burr at 100/1 odds after hearing three-time Tony winner Nathan Lane sing Burr's praises as the perfect fit for this character, and critics agreed. One of my favorite theater writers, Sara Holdren (Vulture), said Burr "plays Moss with a comedian's ear for rhythm, setting up each blunt force blow and devious jab like so many cans to be shot off a fence. It works." Meanwhile, Odenkirk gets the heftiest role in the show in terms of pathos, a character often likened to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman. Speaking of the critics, this revival — like some other plays with star-wattage this season — received pretty mixed reviews overall. How do you think that may impact its place in the Best Play Revival race? Is there a chance the show sees some major snubs, and in which categories?
Eckmann: Burr was the biggest discovery for me. We've seen plenty of his standup work and in TV roles, but I had no idea how he would translate to a stage drama. Well, Mamet's spitfire language flows out of his mouth with such precision it's as if the actor has been performing the role all his life. I'm quite tempted to slot him into my lineup. The only reason I haven't is because I'm equally torn on a surprise nomination for McKean. He and Burr whip the audience into a frenzy of laughter during their two-hander scene in the Chinese restaurant. McKean disappears for large chunks of the play, and he certainly has far less dialogue than the other three contenders you've mentioned. But he knows precisely how to insert an eye-roll, a head tilt, or a thinly muttered "oh sure" at just the right time within Burr's steamrolling monologue to get a reaction. The veteran actor does the most work with the least amount of material, and in the process earns some of the biggest laughs of the night. Both Burr and McKean would likely lose to Culkin if all were nominated, but I think a scenario exists where Odenkirk can pull off a victory. Shelley Levene is a perfect fit for the Better Call Saul star. He effortlessly embodies the explosive energy of Mamet's script, complete with the sporadic stops and starts in dialogue. He really sells the character's downfall in the second half of the script as if he were indeed dropped into an Arthur Miller play. At my performance, his Breaking Bad costar Bryan Cranston sat across the aisle beaming with pride for his friend all night. And after the standing ovation ended at curtain call, it seemed like everyone rushed him to gush over Odenkirk's performance. This is a harmonious match of actor and material, and it makes me picture a world in which he is the first person to win for playing Shelley. In terms of the race for Revival of Play, sure Glengarry received mixed notices, but they were overall much kinder than the ones that Othello received. Many prognosticators penciled in that Shakespeare tragedy as the winner due to its clear event status, but it seems like far less of a frontrunner now. That carves a path to victory for Glengarry as the better-reviewed spring revival. That is of course, if it can fend off Eureka Day and Yellow Face from the first half of the season, both of which drew glowing notices. How do you see that race playing out?
Buchanan: Just as you've described, I once had Othello near the top of my predictions, but I've now dropped it to fourth place. It could even be on the way out of my predictions for a show like Our Town, which closed in the fall but had much more respectable notices than Othello, perhaps because of the high expectations associated with the Denzel Washington-Jake Gyllenhaal pairing and its attendant ticket prices. Although spring productions usually have a leg up in terms of win potential — see the last few years of Best Actress in a Musical contests — there are plenty of examples of closed plays that have claimed the revival trophy in recent years, including Topdog/Underdog, The Boys in the Band, Jitney, A View From the Bridge, and more. The mixed response to Glengarry may weaken it against the well-received Eureka Day and Yellow Face in that regard. I think the nominations on May 1 will help tell us who's ahead in this top category, at least amongst the dozens of Tony nominators. If Yellow Face lands noms for lead and featured actor, or Eureka Day nabs multiple featured bids, then they could put up a fight, especially if Glengarry underperforms with its performers or misses Marber for director. As it stands, this is the last revival to open this Broadway season, and it certainly caps everything off a starry bang.