- Bart Anderson and Eric McCormack. Photo by Emily Cooper.
Glengarry Glen Ross has taken the city by storm! With 16 sold-out performances so far and raves from critics and audiences, we’re thrilled that so many people are making the show, and live theatre, a part of their summer.
Along with the great feedback and interest, we’ve also been fielding questions from people intrigued by the play itself and wanting to learn more either before or after seeing the show. Here are your 4 most frequently asked questions answered!
Q: What are the differences between the film and the play? Many people are very familiar with the amazing 1992 film version starring Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Al Pacino, and Kevin Spacey. For the most part, the film follows the play, which premiered in 1982, exactly. BUT there are a few differences:
- The film contains a character not in the play – Blake (played by Alec Baldwin). Mamet (who also wrote the script for the film) created this character and the “Coffee’s For Closers” scene specifically for the film and they do not appear in the play.
- The scenes in the film that show Shelley (Lemmon) going to visit an uninterested potential client were added for the film. Some of his phone conversations are added as well.
- The setting of the film is New York, while the play is set in Chicago
Q: What does “Glengarry Glen Ross” mean? The title of the play comes from the names of two of the real estate developments being peddled by the salesmen characters, Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms.
Q: What are they selling? Levene (Gerard Plunkett), Roma (Eric McCormack), Moss (John Pyper Ferguson) and Aaronow (Brian Markinson) are not entirely legitimate real estate agents. Their main goal is to try to sell swamp land in Florida for far more money than it’s worth. The land is real, however, it is most likely worthless (cannot be built on or developed in any way etc), and in promoting it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that can change lives they are in fact con-men; the con is not in the fact that the purchase itself is fake, but in that the quality of that which is purchased is considerably lower than advertised.
Q: What exactly are “the leads”? The ”good leads” are the names and numbers of real possible, potential clients as opposed to the other leads that come from forms, competitions, surveys, registration of products etc.
Want to know more? Leave us your question in the comment section and we’ll add it to the post!
