It is a Tuesday night at the Palace Theatre and the air feels thin. You’ve got Kieran Culkin pacing the stage like a caffeinated panther, while Bob Odenkirk looks like he’s aged a decade in two hours. This is the Glengarry Glen Ross 2025 revival, and honestly, it shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. We’ve seen this play. We’ve heard the "Always Be Closing" speech—which, for the record, isn't even in the stage play—and we’ve seen Al Pacino chew the scenery.
But this time, it was different.
David Mamet’s Pulitzer-winning script about desperate real estate sharks in Chicago is over 40 years old. Yet, in the spring of 2025, it felt like it was written this morning. Maybe it's because the "hustle culture" we're all drowning in today makes the desperation of Shelley Levene feel way too familiar. Or maybe it’s just the weird, electric chemistry of a cast that features a Succession star, the creator of Saul Goodman, and a stand-up comedian who built an empire on being annoyed.
The Cast That No One Saw Coming
When the news first broke about the Glengarry Glen Ross 2025 revival, the internet did a collective double-take.
Kieran Culkin as Richard Roma? Bill Burr as Dave Moss? It sounded like a fever dream or a very high-budget Saturday Night Live sketch. But once the curtain went up on March 31, 2025, the skepticism evaporated.
Culkin didn't just play Roma; he channeled that specific brand of Roman Roy "smartest-guy-in-the-room" energy but weaponized it for 1980s real estate. He was twitchy, magnetic, and completely full of it. Opposite him, Bob Odenkirk played Shelley "The Machine" Levene. Odenkirk, making his Broadway debut at 62, found a layer of sadness in Levene that most actors miss. He wasn't just a loser; he was a man who remembered what it felt like to be a god and couldn't understand why the universe stopped listening to his pitch.
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Then there’s Bill Burr.
Most people know him for his podcasts or his Netflix specials where he rants about everything. In this production, he took that "Bill Burr rage" and poured it into Dave Moss. It was terrifying. He didn't just deliver Mamet’s staccato dialogue; he chewed it up and spat it at Michael McKean, who played the hapless George Aaronow. Seeing the two Better Call Saul alums—Odenkirk and McKean—back in the same orbit, even if they didn't share every scene, was a total gift for fans of the show.
Why 2025 Was the Right Year for a Comeback
You might wonder why we needed another revival. We already had Liev Schreiber in 2005 and Al Pacino (playing Levene this time) in 2012.
The 2025 production, directed by Patrick Marber, leaned into the "meta" nature of the play. It didn't try to modernize the setting. It stayed in that grimey, wood-paneled 80s office designed by Scott Pask. But the context had changed. In an era of AI-generated scams and "grindset" influencers, watching four men lie to themselves and each other for the chance to win a Cadillac felt incredibly poignant.
The production was a massive financial hit. It grossed over $35 million during its run.
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Some weeks, tickets were going for over $1,000 on the secondary market. It’s a bit ironic, isn't it? A play that criticizes the soul-crushing nature of capitalism became one of the most successful capitalist ventures on Broadway in years. They "Always Were Closing" at the box office.
The Breakdown of the 2025 Season
- Previews Began: March 10, 2025
- Official Opening: March 31, 2025
- Final Performance: June 28, 2025
- The Venue: The Palace Theatre (freshly renovated and raised 30 feet into the air)
- Running Time: A tight 1 hour and 45 minutes
That Missing Movie Scene
If you went into the theater expecting to hear the famous "Coffee is for closers" monologue, you were probably disappointed.
That scene was written by Mamet specifically for the 1992 film to give Alec Baldwin something to do. It isn't in the original 1983 script. In the Glengarry Glen Ross 2025 revival, Marber stayed true to the source material. There was no "Blake" character from downtown. Instead, the pressure came from the invisible "Mitch and Murray," which actually made the office feel even more like a pressure cooker.
You didn't need a guy in a suit to tell you these men were in trouble. You could see it in the way Donald Webber Jr. (playing John Williamson) withheld those precious "Glengarry leads" like a petty god.
Is It Worth Revisiting the Story?
A lot of critics focused on the "testosterone" of the play. It’s a very male show. There’s a lot of swearing. Like, a lot.
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But the 2025 revival felt less like a celebration of that machismo and more like an autopsy of it. When John Pirruccello’s character, James Lingk, comes into the office crying because his wife wants him to cancel a deal, you don't laugh at him. You feel the weight of the scam.
The play isn't really about real estate. It’s about the language we use to trick ourselves into thinking we’re doing something noble when we’re just trying to survive.
Actionable Takeaways for Theatre Fans
If you missed the 16-week run, you can still dive into the "Mamet-speak" world.
First, read the original 1983 script. It’s a masterclass in rhythm. You can practically hear the actors interrupting each other on the page. Second, track down the 2025 production photos by Emilio Madrid—they captured the lighting by Jen Schriever perfectly, showing just how claustrophobic that office was designed to be.
Finally, if you're a fan of Odenkirk or Culkin, look for the interviews they did during the run. Odenkirk, in particular, talked a lot about how he viewed the play as a "pure comedy," which explains why his Levene was so much more frantic and funny than the tragic versions we've seen in the past.
The Glengarry Glen Ross 2025 revival proved that even if the leads are "weak" and the "leads are coming," a great script handled by a fearless cast will always close the deal.
To truly understand the impact of this production, compare the 1992 film's portrayal of Shelley Levene with Bob Odenkirk's 2025 performance. You'll see two completely different approaches to the "American Dream" in decline. One is a tragedy of a fallen giant; the other is a frantic, darkly comedic struggle for relevance in a world that has moved on.