'Other Desert Cities' opens on Broadway with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Joe Keery making their debuts
The first Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz's family drama, with Ed Harris, Allison Janney and Lily Rabe, has its opening night Sunday at the Hudson Theatre on West 44th Street. It runs through Jan. 17.
Photo: Epicgenius / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
- The first Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities opens Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St., after previews that began Sept. 29 (Playbill, Broadway.com).
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Polly Wyeth) and Joe Keery (Trip Wyeth) make their Broadway debuts opposite Ed Harris, Allison Janney and Lily Rabe; John Benjamin Hickey directs (Playbill).
- The play, set at a Palm Springs family's Christmas Eve gathering, follows a daughter about to publish a memoir exposing a family secret. It was a 2012 Pulitzer finalist (Playbill).
- It is a limited engagement through Jan. 17, 2027. Playbill lists a running time of 2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission.
- The play premiered Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater in 2011, moved to Broadway that year and was nominated for the 2012 Tony for Best Play (Playbill, Broadway.com).
One of the starriest plays of the fall Broadway season has its official opening Sunday night. The revival of Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities opens at the Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St., after previews that began Sept. 29, according to Playbill and Broadway.com. It is the play's first Broadway revival.
Who is in it
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the 11-time Emmy winner from Seinfeld and Veep, makes her Broadway debut as Polly Wyeth, the family's exacting matriarch. Ed Harris plays her husband, Lyman, a former Hollywood actor turned political figure. Allison Janney plays Polly's sister, Silda Grauman; Lily Rabe is their daughter Brooke; and Joe Keery, best known as Steve Harrington on Stranger Things, also makes his Broadway debut as their son, Trip, Playbill reported. John Benjamin Hickey directs.
What it's about
The play is set on Christmas Eve in 2004 at the Wyeths' Palm Springs home. Brooke, a writer, arrives with a memoir she plans to publish exposing a long-held family secret, setting off a clash in a family with opposing political views over who gets to tell its story. Other Desert Cities premiered Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater in 2011 and moved to Broadway the same year, Playbill said. It was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony for Best Play, according to Broadway.com.
In a statement when the revival was announced, Baitz said he had "more or less" talked himself out of bringing the play back to New York, and that nearly 20 years later the questions it asks "remain the same," Playbill reported.
The design team includes Scott Pask (sets), Tom Broecker (costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting) and Mikaal Sulaiman (sound and original music). In a preview feature published Sunday, Broadway.com highlighted the two debuts and Pask's set, a period Palm Springs living room.
If you want to go
- Where: Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St., between Sixth Avenue and Broadway.
- When: a limited engagement through Jan. 17, 2027 (Playbill, Broadway.com).
- How long: 2 hours 15 minutes, including one intermission, according to Playbill.
- PlaybillOther Desert Cities (Broadway, Hudson Theatre, 2026)
- PlaybillJulia Louis-Dreyfus to Make Broadway Debut in Other Desert Cities Revival
- PlaybillPhotos: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Makes Her Broadway Debut in Other Desert Cities
- Broadway.comOther Desert Cities on Broadway
- Broadway.com5 Reasons to See Other Desert Cities on Broadway
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