“The Anarchist,†David Mamet's two-character play about a Weather Underground-style prisoner and her jailer, will close on Dec. 16, its producers announced Tuesday night. The closing is one of the quickest exits for a new work by a name playwright on Broadway in several seasons.
The production at the Golden Theater, starring Patti LuPone and Debra Winger in her Broadway debut, will have played 23 previews and 17 performances when it closes.
Critics drubbed “The Anarchist†upon its opening, calling the language stilted and wondering whether at 70 minutes it deserved to be on Broadway. StageGrade, a review aggregator, gave the show, which Mr. Mamet directed, a D rating.
Still, the rapid closing comes as a surprise, since playing on the same street as “The Anarchist†is a revival of Mr. Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning “Glengarry Glen Ross†at the Schoenfeld Theater - with the same lead producers - which has been the biggest box-office success of the fall season, even before its official opening this weekend. The “Glengarry†cast includes Al Pacino, Bobby Cannavale, and Jeremy Shamos.
Mr. Mamet's last new play on Broadway, “Race,†closed in 2010 after a solid 297-performance run. But a revival of his early “Life in the Theater†the same year was short-lived, and a revival of his “American Buffalo†closed in 2008 after only 20 previews and 8 performances.
