Time Out Theater Review: "Superior Donuts"
By: David Cote - Time Out New York
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He won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for the play "August Osage County." Now playwright Tracy Letts returns to Broadway with a new work called "Superior Donuts." NY1 contributing critic David Cote, of Time Out New York, filed the following review.Far too much of what we see on Broadway is like a donut: sugary-sweet, hollow at the center, and bad for you. But Tracy Letts's new play "Superior Donuts" could never be mistaken for junk food.
This witty, melancholy but hopeful chamber drama is a full-course meal served up by a crew of top chefs.
Set in a run-down donut shop in Chicago's crummy Uptown neighborhood, "Superior Donuts" centers on the sad-sack owner, Arthur Przybyszewski, an ex-hippie draft dodger whose family has run the establishment for almost 60 years.
Arthur, played with touching restraint by Michael McKean, is alone in the world; his ex-wife recently died and his daughter wants nothing to do with him. Plus his business is failing and someone has vandalized his store.
Enter Franco Wicks. The fast-talking and ambitious young man bluffs his way into a job, despite Arthur's reluctance. Soon the men are opening up to each other. Arthur gets fashion tips from Franco to attract a female cop, and Franco shows Arthur a sprawling novel he's worked on for seven years.
As in his past plays, Tracy Letts's dialogue is smart, punchy, and unpredictable. He's fascinated by society's losers and loners. We're all isolated screw-ups, and we're all in it together, he seems to say.
Compassion and courage matter in his world.
Director Tina Landau has at her disposal a terrific cast, direct from the world premiere at Chicago's Steppenwolf. McKean's performance is a master class in understatement. Jon Michael Hill has a vibrant, hyper-verbal character in Franco and he runs with it. Yasen Peyankov has a small, but pivotal role as a Russian immigrant desperate to buy the store.
"Superior Donuts" is very funny and also gut-punching sad, but ultimately it's a redemptive tale about community and the need to let go of the past, however painful.
It would be silly to ask if "Superior Donuts" is as good as Tracy Letts' mega-hit two seasons ago, "August: Osage County." They're totally different plays, united by an author whose muscular dialogue and skewed view of humanity makes him one of our most valuable playwrights.