The highly anticipated Broadway revival of David Mamet's masterpiece American Buffalo, starring an extraordinary multi-cultural cast – John Leguizamo, Cedric the Entertainer, and Haley Joel Osment begins performances tonight, Friday, October 31 at Broadway's Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. American Buffalo is directed by Robert Falls.
David Mamet's classic American comedic drama
American Buffalo, directed by two time Tony Award winner
Robert Falls and starring Tony Award nominee
John Leguizamo, and in their Broadway debuts,
Cedric the Entertainer and Academy Award nominee
Haley Joel Osment, follows three small-time crooks who wax philosophically about society while conspiring to steal a rare and valuable coin from a neighborhood collector. Volcanic and motor mouthed Teach (Leguizamo) schemes and spars with fatherly, street-smart junk shop owner Donny (
Cedric the Entertainer) enlisting Bobby (Osment), a slow-witted and desperate young delinquent, to carry out their misbegotten robbery. A hilarious, banter-fueled heist comedy and a heartbreaking portrait of criminal desperation,
American Buffalo's all-star cast is powered by
David Mamet's stark, rapid-fire, uniquely American and unforgettable dialogue.
John Leguizamo made his Broadway debut in his critically acclaimed Tony-nominated Freak (subsequently recorded for HBO, directed by
Spike Lee) and followed that with two separate, equally successful runs of Sexaholix. He also wrote and performed in the Drama Desk Award-winning Spic-O-Rama. His achievements in Hollywood are no less astonishing. He created, wrote and starred in the 1995 Latino-oriented variety show "House of Buggin" on FOX. His movie career exploded with Carlito's Way, followed by blockbusters such as Executive Decision, The Fan, Moulin Rouge and Ice Age, to name a few. Upcoming: Nothing Like the Holidays and Righteous Kill (with
Al Pacino and
Robert DeNiro).
Cedric the Entertainer burst onto the scene when he made his first TV stand-up appearance on "It's Showtime at the Apollo" and soon became a household name for his groundbreaking work as host of HBO's "Def Comedy Jam" and BET's "Comic View." In 1996 he proved his acting chops when he had a starring role on the #1-rated sitcom "The St
Eve Harvey Show," and in 2003 went on to star in his own Fox variety series, "
Cedric the Entertainer Presents," which garnered the AFTRA Award of Excellence in Television Programming. Cedric's many successes spanning television and live performances immediately led to starring roles in such box office toppers as Barbershop, Johnson Family Vacation, Be Cool, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Madacascar, Street Kings and the critically acclaimed Talk to Me. Considered to be one of the most prominent comic actors and performers of his generation, Cedric has performed for 2 US presidents and from 1997-2000 he was one of the four all-star headliners of the most successful comedy tour in history,
The Kings Of Comedy. This production will mark
Cedric the Entertainer's Broadway debut.
For the blockbuster hit film The Sixth Sense,
Haley Joel Osment received an Oscar nomination at age eleven as well as numerous film critics' awards and Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award nominations. Osment began his television and film career at age five, winning his first honor, the Youth in Film Award, for his role as Forrest, Jr. in the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump. Other film credits include Home of the Giants, Secondhand Lions, A.I., Pay it Forward, Edges of the Lord, Montana Amazon, Mixed Nuts, For Better or Worse, and Bogus. Voice-overs include Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame Deux, The Country Bears, and The Jungle Book 2. He made his acting debut in the television series "Thunder Alley," co-starred on "The Jeff Foxworthy Show," and appeared as Avery Brown on the long-running "Murphy Brown." He has guest starred on "The Pretender," "Chicago Hope," "Touched By An Angel," "Walker Texas Ranger," and "Ally McBeal." His television films include the Hall
Mark Hall of Fame's "The Ransom of Red Chief," "The Lake," and "I'll Remember April." Honors include three Young Star Awards for performances in TNT's "Last Stand at Saber River," the Hallmark presentation of "Cab to Canada," and The Sixth Sense as well as the Broadcast Film Critics Award, the ShoWest Award, and two Saturn Awards.
David Mamet is Broadway's preeminent playwright.
American Buffalo and Glengarry, Glen Ross are two of his most renowned plays with Crytogram and Oleanna being but two of his Off-Broadway triumphs. Mr. Mamet has written the screenplays of such Hollywood hits as The Verdict and Wag the Dog (Oscar nominations for both), The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, Ronin and State and Main.
Robert Falls, artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theater which received the Regional Theatre Tony Award under his helm in 1991, has had numerous Broadway successes. He received a Tony award for the 50th anniversary production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, starring Brian Dennehy, and also directed Eugene O'Neill's Long Days Journey Into Night, starring Dennehy, Vanessa Redgrave, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Robert Sean Leonard, which received three Tony Awards.
American Buffalo is produced by
Elliot Martin,
Ben Sprecher,
Louise Forlenza,
Bryan Bantry/Michae S. Rosenberg,
Max Weitzenhoffer/
Nica Burns,
Wendy Federman, The
Bozeman Group LLC,
Stewart F. Lane/
Bonnie Comley,
Jay Harris,
William Franzblau,
Oscar Joyner,
Ken Wydro/
Vy Higginsen,
Ray Larsen and
Nelle Nugent. In association with
Max Cooper and
Norton Herrick.
American Buffalo will play the following schedule at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues): Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets can be arranged through www.Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6262 / (888) 268-2020 (outside the NY Metro Area). For more information, visit
www.AmericanBuffaloBroadway.com.
Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
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