This... is AMERICAN Buffalo!

I'd been wanting to see American Buffalo at Steppenwolf for a while and decided, naturally, that it would be a really awesome idea to see it on Valentine's Day. What says Valentine's Day more than a David Mamet play??

So. I dragged Heidi (my fellow fabulously single friend!) off to the 'Wolf - wait, I must digress here. In Chris Jones's rather gushy review of August: Osage County, he referred to it as "the 'Wolf" - and I have never ever ever ever ever ever ever (ever!) heard it referred to that way. So I need to ask - is this a thing? Is this what all the cool kids are saying? Like, if I ever met Gary Sinise or John Malkovich somewhere (and could scrape together enough brain power to say anything coherent to them) would I ask them if they still get a chance to do much at "the 'Wolf"? Did Mr. Jones just make that up to sound cool? Or do people actually say that? I am serious here. I really want to know.

Back to the show. It was my first David Mamet experience. American Buffalo is described by "the 'Wolf" (I promise I will stop calling it that, unless you really want me to, Mr. Sinise) in the following way "In a cluttered, run-down Chicago junk shop, three small time crooks plot to steal a valuable Buffalo nickel. As the heist unravels, the men's frustration and paranoia intensify. Ensemble member Amy Morton directs this ground-breaking American play that weaves humor and menace throughout an emotionally charged struggle for identity and dominance." Ensemble members Tracy Letts, Francis Guinan and Patrick Andrews were our small town crooks. The dialogue was rapid fire Chicago-ese and was off like a runaway el train. The first act went by SO FAST, I could not even believe it. I got up out of our (really good, row B) seats and went about my intermission business.

As I was waiting to grab a snack, I heard this woman behind me, sounding like she'd just sucked an entire tankful of helium, telling her (world-suffering) husband, rather accusingly "This is NOTHING like Legally Blonde." Well, um, no. It's not. Were you expecting it to be? Although this was my first Mamet play, I had gone into it with some expectations and let me tell you, if I was going to compare it to something else that I thought might be similar, Legally Blonde would not have been at the top of that list. It would actually not have been on the list at all. Hello? She then said something about how the cadence of the dialogue made her want to fall asleep which I thought was really really odd, because they were talking really fast. Which I am used to, you know, because I'm a Chicagoan and we, like, talkreallyfast. Her husband then said that all of the (and I quote) "playhouses" were not really open today, and the only things they could have seen were this and "Osage County" - which his wife thought would have been much better to see (maybe she thought it would be more like Legally Blonde?) and I am really glad they were not sitting by me because I probably would have hit her if I'd had to listen to her voice for another single minute. As it was, I grabbed my bar of bacon chocolate and fled.

I liked the show. It was dark, it was funny (in a dark way, ya know?) it was deeper than three crooks in a junk shop. Letts, Guinan and Andrews were great in their roles. There were two interruptions by telephone, both in rather critical second act moments. These great actors did not skip a beat, they soldiered on (even though, in their place, I would have roared "What the FUCK is that??" they kept their cool.)

On their closing night, the 'Wolf did not disappoint (couldn't help myself). After the show, Heidi and I sat in her car and ate our bacon chocolate and had the following things to say regarding this Vosges confection:

Heidi: This is weird.

Me: It's weird.

Heidi: Very weird.

Me: Fucking weird!!!

Very appropriate, yes? Showing off our facility for quotation (anybody?) and with a Mamet spirit to boot. Happy Valentine's Day.