Theater Beat : Star of ‘Glengarry’ Remains Its Power

With its testosterone-fueled games of one-upmanship in a sleazy Chicago-area real estate office, “Glengarry Glen Ross” is a perfectly crafted articulation of David Mamet’s signature themes of power and domination. In a rare L.A. staging, the play that inspired the better-known film remains a darkly comic masterpiece, though uneven casting blunts its impact in spots.

Nevertheless, Stan Roth’s staging gets much of it right. Sal Viscuso anchors the production with his high-octane portrayal of Richard Roma, the sales team champ with a pool hustler’s unerring instinct for the perfect shot. His opening monologue in a Chinese restaurant is more than a sales pitch; it’s an impromptu, serpentine Garden of Eden seduction that transfixes a hapless diner (Kevin Brief) and the audience. Risking a departure from Mamet’s strict logic of manipulation, Viscuso adds complexity through Roma’s genuine affection for Shelley (Jay Gerber), the senior salesman who’s lost his edge--with his job soon to follow.

In another particularly sharp exchange, Jonathan Palmer as another consummate wheeler-dealer spins a masterpiece of innuendo, misdirection and confusion trying to enlist his hilariously clueless office mate (David Wells) in a fast-cash scheme.

The weakest link is, unfortunately, the pivotal over-the-hill Shelly. Although Gerber depicts some convincingly desperate groveling as he begs the sullen office manager (James Henriksen) for some promising sales leads, he never overcomes an innate decency that makes it impossible to believe Shelly could have survived a lifetime in these shark-infested waters. Mamet’s expressive profanity must emanate from these characters like breathing, but from Shelly it never quite sounds natural. He’s more convincing at the bottom end of the power scale, when an investigative cop (D.J. Berg) extinguishes his last spark.

Nevertheless, Mamet’s point about these characters’ overriding compulsion to maintain the upper hand hasn’t lost its edge. Despite the 1983 setting, the play’s only dated element is its office robbery (today it would have been an electronic theft). Curiously, the otherwise capable staging opts for minimal disruption from the ransacking, which calls out for gaping file cabinets and debris-littered floors to open the second act with a shocking visual. Instead, all we get are a boarded-up window and some desktops strewn with papers--neater than mine on a good day.

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* “Glengarry Glen Ross,” Third Stage, 2811 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 6. $15. (818) 842-4755. Running time: 1 hour,45 minutes.