By Karu F. Daniels, BlackVoices.com

They don't call it the Great White Way for nothing!

Within the first week of officially opening, the Broadway revival of 'American Buffalo' closed after the matinee performance on November 23, at Broadway's Belasco Theatre.

The show, which marked the debut of black Hollywood heavyweight Cedric The Entertainer, played 20 previews and eight performances.

Co-produced by Oscar Joyner of Reach Media, 'American Buffalo' was directed by Tony Award winner Robert Falls and also starred Tony Award nominee John Leguizamo, and Academy Award nominee Haley Joel Osment ('The Sixth Sense') – who also made his Broadway debut.

Production spokesperson Don Summa didn't offer any further details for the abrupt shuttering, but all indications point to a lackluster box-office showing – and the mainstream theater critics panning the show.

Revered 'New York Times' critic Ben Brantley referred to the cast as "a mixed-nut ensemble" which "evokes the woeful image of a souped-up sports car's flat tire, built for speed but going nowhere." While the casting choice was a bit ambitious it wasn't that far off from some of the other daring appearances we have seen on Broadway.

But when it comes to playwright David Mamet -- who also is responsible for one of the more respected works in the past half century (Glengary Glenn Ross) – theater purists' claws tend to come out sharp.

'Associated Press' reviewer Michael Kuchwara wrote that "the four-letter words are intact but just about everything else is amiss in the slack, unsatisfying Broadway revival of David Mamet's 'American Buffalo.'"

In chatting with BlackVoices.com's very own Wilson Morales at the opening night party last Monday, Cedric The Entertainer said the show was "tough" but was excited to be doing it. "I thought it was great that we had this multi-cultural cast, and it feels modern," he added, "It feels like the world that we live in today."

One good thing for each of these talented actors – there's always Hollywood: Cedric The Entertainer stars in 'Cadillac Records' alongside Adrian Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Mos Def and Beyonce Knowles (opening Dec. 5); Leguizamo, who just starred in 'The Happening' and 'Righteous Kill,' has the new movie 'Nothing Like The Holidays' opening next month; and Osment, who's a junior at New York University, has two films in the pike for next year.



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