Tracy Letts' Superior Donuts offers a slice of contemporary Polish/Russian working-class life in a Chicago neighborhood that is now mixed with black inhabitants. Superior acting, superior writing, superior jokes based on character, and two superior leading characters - Michael McKean as an old hippie and Jon Michael Hill as his new assistant -- create a complex counterpoint that is theatrically engrossing. I guess to add dramatic conflict to the play, Letts gives the young man serious danger in his life, but the piece doesn't need that; the fascinating interaction of various characters with simple problems, performed by an outstanding ensemble, is enough. Still, Letts is a terrific writer of colorful dialogue (he really knows how to set up a joke and make it pay off), and I have to go with his choice to take the plot to its severe consequences.
The fight sequence designed by Rick Sordelet, is beautifully choreographed, James Schuette has designed a good practical set of the donut shop, costumes by Ana Kuzmanic are appropriate with a flash of authenticity, and it is all directed with subtlety and style by Tina Landau.
