American Buffalo at Steppenwolf Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...Morton has created a very credible world. Thanks also to Kevin Depinet’s very clever set, you feel like this place, and the people who hang out there, could really exist (I’ve always imagined Mamet was writing about somewhere near the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Byron Street in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood). That’s more than the recent Broadway revival achieved. It suffered from the need for commercially viable casting and featured a set that looked nothing like a Chicago junk store."

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...With a little paunch encased in a garish print polyester shirt (Nan Cibula-Jenkins’ costume his priceless), and a gray ponytail and receding hairline framing a ruddy complexion, Letts looks like a repo man who lives in a single room occupany hotel. And he nails every line of misanthropic, misogynistic vituperativeness Mamet has dished out. Hate-filled and sickly hilarious, Teach is the play’s motor. And Letts is totally revved up from the word go."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Mamet's great achievement with American Buffalo was to take the earnest broken-American-dream themes of Clifford Odets and Theodore Dreiser and marry them to a street-smart vernacular that sings and scats with its own odd, relentless drive. Teach, Donny, and Bobby haven't a clue in their noggins, but they share that peculiarly American notion that they can get whatever they want if they simply want it badly enough—the same thinking that leads putatively smarter guys to buy high-risk securities."

Copley News Service - Highly Recommended

"...The Steppenwolf production stars Tracy Letts as Teach and Francis Guinan as Donny. They don’t just impersonate the two characters, Letts and Guinan crawl inside their skins. Teach being the more showy role, Letts grabs most of the audience’s attention as a vivid portrait of a chiseler trying to rise above his loser (there’s that inevitable label again) life with sheer bravado. Near the end of the play, Teach freaks out when he learns the coin heist has gone bust, trashing Donny’s junk shop in an orgy of rage and frustration."

Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended

"...Letts, who's been busy as a writer the past few years with August: Osage County and Superior Donuts, is back on stage and has entirely disappeared into his character. He's not only nearly unrecognizable physically with a ponytail and dressed in Teach's unbuttoned printed acrylic disco shirt and long leather coat (in the most colorful of Nan Cibula-Jenkins costumes), but he assumes a throaty/nasally voice and an accent that labels him as a member of the underclass. Teach is one of those Mamet characters who purports to have everything figured out and is too willing to share his wisdom with others. His moods range from indignation at a perceived slight by some of his poker buddies to arrogance and rage. Letts navigates all of these moods masterfully, creating a frightening character. We understand that Teach's bravado gives an appearance of strength that is appealing to Donny, but we see how it is false and dangerous to Donny."

Centerstage - Recommended

"...Director Amy Morton pulls wonderful performances out of the entire cast, but the overall production doesn't quite provide the virtuoso effect that you'd expect from such a seminal play. This revival of "American Buffalo" shines with impressive acting that journeys through the travails of marginal characters desperately attempting to grab at riches and achievement at a time when the rules are changing and the players aren't familiar."

Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended

"...Director Amy Morton has unlocked the language of American Buffalo to gritty, hilarious and startling effect. In so doing, she and her brilliant cast create the reality of the play with a level of dramatic connection that is as priceless and unique as the rare nickel on which the dark story revolves."

Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Under Morton’s guidance, the tightly wrought tale of three Chicago lowlifes ineptly planning a heist reveals variegated layers beneath its famously virtuoso cussing. Scan past the well-played fucks and cunts and the increasingly meaningless clichés that comprise the false bravado of Teach (Letts as the play’s driving-without-a-steering-wheel force), and you’ll find the two most emphatically repeated concepts: loyalty and business, which Mamet seems to suggest are mutually exclusive."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...Letts, Guinan and Andrews give emotionally deep performances as they deftly articulate Mamet’s language while encompassing the truthfulness of these losers. The acting far surpasses the writing that seems a tad dated except for those who have never seen this classic work. The power, emotion, and pathos of these guys rings true. This show is a graduate course in acting and elocution."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...It is always a treat to watch a production of any play written by David Mamet. His characters are real people and we as an audience are allowed to look through the fourth wall and witness that which they call their lives. In "American Buffalo," now on stage at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, we not only get to see his words transformed into reality, but we get to see three marvelous actors directed by Ensemble member Amy Morton, who truly understands this playwright."

Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended

"...The cast has earned all the accolades that can be heaped upon them, but it’s Tracy Letts’ performance as Teach that brings the fireworks. From the moment he first tromps down the junkshop’s steps in a wide, cumbersome stride, Letts immaculately controls his role, pulling humor naturally and fluently from it, reaching powerfully into the depths of Teach’s desperation. He can turn on a dime according to Teach’s shifting moods. From cock-sure complaint over the cheating that goes on at Don’s poker table to garrulous lecturing on how to pull the most professional heist, from jealousy to creeping paranoia to unleashed rage, Letts hits all the marks in one seamless pyrotechnic performance."