Letts' play SUPERIOR DONUTS to being previews on Broadway on October 1
#2
Posted: 5/12/09 at 12:01pm
Huh? What prompted a Broadway production of this? I don't remember it being all that well received.
#3
Posted: 5/12/09 at 12:14pm
I want some donuts now.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#4
Posted: 5/12/09 at 12:16pm
Me too, millie!
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
#5
Posted: 5/12/09 at 12:25pm
I just love this title!
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#6
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:01pm
Hmmm. I hope there have been re-writes.
kmc
kmc
Jesus saves. I spend.
#7
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:13pm
I read the title as "Let's play Superior Donuts...."
I was waiting for a game.
I was waiting for a game.
....but the world goes 'round
#8
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:15pm
Weird.
If a great New York Times review is an almost-must for a transfer, than they really aren't following the rules. Charles Isherwood's review isn't all that positive: he calls the play funny, but tame, safe, and even dated and reductive (he keeps comparing it to sitcoms like "Chico and the Man").
About the only really positive thing he has to say is that the play is completely unexpected from Tracy Letts, and that he would "never venture to predict where he's heading next."
Here's the full review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/theater/reviews/30donu.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Superior%20Donuts%20Charles%20Isherwood&st=cse
If a great New York Times review is an almost-must for a transfer, than they really aren't following the rules. Charles Isherwood's review isn't all that positive: he calls the play funny, but tame, safe, and even dated and reductive (he keeps comparing it to sitcoms like "Chico and the Man").
About the only really positive thing he has to say is that the play is completely unexpected from Tracy Letts, and that he would "never venture to predict where he's heading next."
Here's the full review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/theater/reviews/30donu.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Superior%20Donuts%20Charles%20Isherwood&st=cse
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#9
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:16pm
The reviews weren't really all that great, I wonder what prompted a transfer.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#10
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:23pm
Probably the Tracy Letts name and brand.
But hey, there's always rewriting. That should do at least a little bit of good.
But hey, there's always rewriting. That should do at least a little bit of good.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#11
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:25pm
I remember reading that Isherwood review when it first came out and thinking that the show wouldn't transfer. Oh well, not the first or last show to transfer with lukewarm out of town reviews. Wonder if they'll follow AUGUST's step and keep the Steppenwolf cast.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#12
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:34pm
I wouldn't be at all surprised if they closed AUGUST... at the end of the summer and moved SUPERIOR DONUTS into The Music Box.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#13
Posted: 5/12/09 at 1:51pm
A few of my friends saw it in Chicago and only one of them liked it, the rest were just "eh" about it. So I'm not sure why it's transferring. I mean, I could understand it if August was this big sell-out hit and whatnot, but it's sort of petering it out.
#14
Posted: 5/12/09 at 2:00pm
Me, too, taz. The main board is no fun.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
#15
Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:06pm
I have faith that it will be great.
#16
Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:14pm
I saw it in Chicago and it was really an awesome play, but one that is so...Chicago, that I don't know how well it will connect/appeal to New York audiences. That's just the feeling I got though, nice to see Letts getting some more stuff out there...
#17
Posted: 5/12/09 at 3:18pm
It was a really fun play... just... very Chicago... and sort of small scale... I thought. Michael McKean, though... was wonderful.
kmc
kmc
Jesus saves. I spend.
Updated On: 5/12/09 at 03:18 PM
#18
Posted: 5/12/09 at 4:21pm
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I LOVED this show. It wasn't frozen when I saw it and they were still reworking the ending, but I thought it was evenly balanced and powerful. Yes, it's intimate and character driven - but there were some really nice moments onstage.
#19
Posted: 5/19/09 at 6:04pm
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/129410-Superior_Donuts_Ready_for_Dunking_Will_Open_on_Broadway_Oct._1
"Here's how the New York producers characterize Superior Donuts: 'Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better. This comedy-drama, set in the heart of one of Chicago's most diverse communities, explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.'
The Chicago Tribune reported that Letts has revised his play since last summer."
"Here's how the New York producers characterize Superior Donuts: 'Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better. This comedy-drama, set in the heart of one of Chicago's most diverse communities, explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.'
The Chicago Tribune reported that Letts has revised his play since last summer."
#20
Posted: 5/19/09 at 6:42pm
"Superior Donuts" is MUCH better than his earlier work, "Adequate Donuts."
#21
Posted: 5/19/09 at 7:13pm
It said that it'll be in a Shubert theater.
Any guesses as to which one?
Any guesses as to which one?
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