Over the course of a few months in 2018 and 2019, Darren Criss won the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award for his portrayal of serial killer Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story—and checked off nearly every red carpet best dressed list, to boot.This spring he might have to brace himself for an even busier season. In May he will star in and executive produce Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood series for Netflix; he is the star, executive producer and writer of Royalties for Quibi, which launches April 6; and beginning March 24 he will return to Broadway for the Atlantic Theater Company’s revival of David Mamet’s 1975 play, American Buffalo, alongside Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne, with direction by Neil Pepe. (The stars are pictured here together for the first time in this exclusive first-look image.)
Criss will play Bobby, the youngest of a trio of petty thieves who conspire to steal a rare coin collection. Last seen on the Broadway in 2015, dancing on top of a car in six-inch metallic heels in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Criss is itching to get back on stage. “I’m excited to get my hands dirty and put all the pieces together,” he said on a recent phone call while driving around Los Angeles, where he’ll spend another few weeks before moving to New York to start rehearsals on the hustler drama. “It’s all speculation until you really get there and see the characters on the page and how they live in the world.”
Criss has had his sights on American Buffalo for a while now—eight years ago, he first did a reading of the Obie winning play, but nothing came of it. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” he says. “When I found out about the revival, my tail was wagging off of my body.”
American Buffalo opens April 14 at Circle in the Square Theatre.
What is your relationship to American Buffalo?
I always say that American Buffalo is an American standard, in the same way that we have jazz standards. If you’re a musician, you have a pretty comprehensive familiarity with Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, and if you’re studying theater, American Buffalo is a really big fixture in a drama student’s upbringing. It’s a heavy-hitter play.
How were you cast?
I did a reading of American Buffalo around eight years ago. It was put together by Jeffrey Richards, who is now the producer of this play. Being in that room was wildly exciting to me. I remained in and out of touch with Jeffrey, and I remember reading an article online that Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne were going to star in a limited run of American Buffalo, produced by none other than the same Jeffrey Richards. Within three minutes, I emailed Jeffrey and asked, ‘Hey, do you guys have a Bobby yet? Did my window of opportunity close eight years ago?’ I thought that ship had sailed, but they were very receptive of my enthusiasm and we made it work. It was hot and heavy very quickly.
When did you first meet David Mamet?
We all met for the first time a few weekends ago while we were doing a photoshoot. I was thrilled to be able to connect the dots between the playwriting voice and the human voice. He was very lovely to me and I was thrilled to have the support to be in his play.