Letts' 'Donuts' a solid successor to 'August'
Critics who had sharpened their knives in anticipation of Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts" will have to sheath their blades.
More intimate than its predecessor - the widely acclaimed (Pulitzer Prize, five Tony Awards, Drama Desk and New York City Drama Critics awards) and wildly successful (a Broadway transfer and extension, remount in London later this year and a national tour in 2009) "August: Osage County"- Letts' latest lacks that play's sweep and scale. But it warrants neither the slings nor the arrows that sometimes accompany the follow-up to a blockbuster.
On the contrary, "Superior Donuts," which premiered this week at Steppenwolf Theatre, is a solidly entertaining successor to "August." And if its rather routine story flirts with sentimentality, at least it doesn't succumb to it.
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Sharp, funny, aggressively authentic and proudly ethnic, "Superior Donuts" centers on the unlikely friendship that develops between the disillusioned, aging hippie Arthur Przybyszewski, played with masterful understatement and a touch of ambivalence by Michael McKean ("Best in Show," "This is Spinal Tap"), and college dropout Franco Wicks (the charismatic Jon Michael Hill, a talent to watch), a bright young man with big dreams and a large debt.
But there's more to the story than the attraction of opposites. An examination of contrasting versions of the American dream (wealth, acclaim) and the challenge of sustaining a small family business in the wake of a corporate onslaught and a changing community, it also emerges as a rather telling portrait of a disengaged man who has never fully committed to a woman, a cause or the once flourishing and now floundering Uptown doughnut shop (Loy Arcenas' run-down, yet cozy set warmed by Christopher Akerlind's wintry lighting) his immigrant parents established some 60 years earlier.
The action begins following some minor vandalism investigated by beat officers Randy Osteen (Kate Buddeke) a worn-down, warmhearted woman with more than a passing interest in the romantically inept Art, and James Hailey (James Vincent Meredith, who's the very image of a Chicago cop). At the scene, they encounter Russian immigrant Max Tarasov (a broadly comic, highly entertaining Yasen Peyankov), the tactless but oddly likable owner of a DVD rental store who's eager to buy Art out so he can expand his business. Also on hand is Lady Boyle (Jane Alderman), an addled street sage whose routine is interrupted by the break-in.
None of this really upsets Arthur, a onetime "draft evader," with a graying ponytail, frayed jeans and a penchant for smoking pot, who seems to have spent most of his life adrift. Enter Franco, a 21-year-old aspiring writer with a poet's soul and hustler's chutzpah, who has written an apparently autobiographical opus he claims is the next great American novel. After talking his way into a job, Franco tries to convince Arthur that turning the shop into a cafe - complete with live music and poetry readings - will turn the business around.
Turns out Franco's got financial troubles of his own. A run of bad luck put him in debt to dyspeptic bookie Luther Flynn (Robert Maffia) and his enforcer Kevin Magee (Cliff Chamberlain) who intend to collect, one way or another.
Tina Landau's unforced direction and her ensemble's crackerjack acting keep Letts' instantly recognizable characters from becoming cliches. Moreover, Landau and McKean make palatable Arthur's monologues - the musings that fill in the character's back story - that periodically interrupt the narrative. McKean's subtlety makes the contrivance credible and he and Hill have a terrific rapport.
"Superior Donuts" marks the first of Letts' plays set in his adopted hometown, and he peppers it with Chicago references. Jefferson Park, Truman College, a couple of Chicago Bears, the Magikist sign that once loomed over the Kennedy Expressway and the cougar that recently prowled Roscoe Village all get a mention. But ultimately, the play's strength rests with its wry writing and its memorable lead character who finds his mooring.
"Superior Donuts"
Rating: 3 stars
Location: Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Aug. 17; also 2 p.m. July 30, Aug. 6 and 13. No performance July 4, Sunday evening performances through July 27 only
Running time: About 2 hours, 15 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $20-$68
Parking: $9 in the Steppenwolf lot
Box office: (312) 335-1650 or steppenwolf.org
Rating: For adults