Mmmm, donuts

Today, it's off to Steppenwolf to see Superior Donuts, the latest from Tony and Pulitzer prize winning ensemble member Tracy Letts. When I told a friend of mine that I was going, she said "I like donuts" and I had to explain that no actual donuts would be involved in the production. "Well," she said, "there SHOULD be!" And she may have a point. It would be very cute for the concessions at intermission to be selling some nice hot donuts.

(Note: I took the photo above on one of my first trips to New York City - I was with Maggie and Wanda and gosh, were those donuts HUGE. And delicious.)

UPDATE: Hahahahaha - they WERE selling donuts at intermission! They probably figured all the blabbing about crullers and bismarcks ("is that the plural of bismarck?") would make people hungry for donuts! I know I was...

Anyway, Time Out Chicago reviewed the show, and the first sentence of the review clarifies what everyone is most likely wondering - no, Superior Donuts is not another August: Osage County. That being said, it was a really enjoyable comedy about the last independently owned donut shop in Uptown, its ponytailed hippie proprietor Arthur Przbyszewski (played by Michael McKean) and all the people in and out of his life - a pair of cops (what? Chicago cops in a donut shop??) one of whom is a little flirty with Arthur and, according to his new employee (Jon Michael Hill) "wants a big drink of your bathwater"* and her partner who is a Star Trek fan, the alcoholic homeless lady who comes in for a free donut, the Russian proprietor of a DVD store next door to the donut shop, and his thug like nephew Cyril, and the bookie who is after the new employee. Between bits of action, Arthur speaks directly to the audience in soliloquies, letting us see inside his head, and giving us a little bit of insight into him.

Anyway - it was nicely done and very well performed. There was a fight scene that lasted a bit too long and that looked a little awkwardly staged in such a small space. It was funny. It was engaging. It was a snapshot in time of a city and a neighborhood and some of its people. Tracy Letts, who has lived in the city for 20 years and considers himself a Chicagoan said in an interview with Martha Lavey "I think Chicagoans are going to get a kick out of this play." I don't know about everyone else, but I really enjoyed it. It was a snapshot in time, in a Chicago neighborhood being taken over by Starbucks and Whole Foods. I can imagine this store, these people actually existing, that is how real the characters were. The play was full of local color - Bears jokes, cracks about the weather (of course!) and timely comments about the earthquake and the cougar on the loose. It was fun. If you live here, go see it. Tracy's right. You'll get a kick out of it.

* Lady cop in question was played by one Kate Buddeke, whose bio listed her as also being in the last Broadway revival of Gypsy - I recognized the name but did not recall who she had played. My guess was Mazeppa, and lo and behold - when I got home to check the cast album - I was right!