Saturday, December 26, 2009

Superior Donuts

Show Time Sadie’s, “What’s in it For Me” Scale
1. It was boring, or ordinary, or ho hum, don’t waste your time.
2. It was entertaining, but dinner would have been good too.
3, It changed my life in some miraculous way


Superior Donuts is closing in January. This is important information because it is a wonderful show and everyone who is conveniently located near New York City, should try to see it. One of the reasons Sadie thinks it's closing is because it doesn't have the audience to support the cost of a Broadway show. And why not? Let's do a simple analysis.

It is a Steppenwolf Theater Company production. The director, Tina Landau is part of the company. That's nothing to sneeze about -- unless you have allergies. The writer Tracy Letts won a Pulitzer prize for "Osage County," so we can assume this play has some merit. At the very least that provides material for good advertising. "Superior" like "Osage" is funny, poignant and complicated. The cast, although (with the exception of one of the leads Michael McKean) has no big Hollywood celebrities, is incredibly talented. Jon Michael Hill, the other lead is amazing first as an energetic dreamer who owes money to the mob and then as a victim mutilated because he didn't pay back the money. Sadie was impressed with the depth of these performances and those of the supporting cast. The set, a donut cafe, is simple and cleverly designed to reflect the action. All in all, it's a shame that it's coming to an end. But back to the question of why? There's no telling, but my guess is that people who spend a great deal of money want 'big' or 'important', having merit is no longer enough.

Sadie has to give it a 3. Not only for the performances and the writing, but because the message about friendship and priorities is well worth learning

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