B'way Review: Other Desert Cities

Allison Janney and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in
Other Desert Cities.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

When Jon Robin Baitz’s incisively-written Other Desert Cities opened at Lincoln Center’s Off-Broadway Mitzi Newhouse Theater in 2011 and then transferred to Broadway later the same year in Joe Mantello’s sensitive production, it was praised as an even-handed yet scathing examination of the state of our polarized nation. Each of the members of the politically and emotionally divided Wyeth family, a powerful clan with influential government, show business and literary connections, was seen as a fully-drawn, three-dimensional human being, not a representative of a particular point of view along the ideological spectrum.

The current Broadway revival at the Hudson is just as indicative of a fraught nation, even more so as the battle lines between left and right are more deeply and seemingly permanently drawn in Trump’s America. John Benjamin Hickey’s polished staging lands the laughs and heartbreaking moments solidly, but the acting choices made by the all-star cast have thrown the balance slightly off. It’s still an entertaining and moving evening (it better be at those astronomical prices, with top seats going for four figures). Unfortunately not all the parties are rendered equally relatable and sympathetic.

Baitz’s story remains compelling. Over Christmas week 2004, the Wyeths reunite at the palatial Palm Springs home of parents Lyman and Polly (Scott Pask designed the gorgeous set.) Mom and Dad are a power couple in elite GOP circles. Lyman’s an ex-movie star and ambassador (possibly based on John Gavin) and Polly had a run as a Hollywood screenwriter of fluffy comedies with her liberal sister Silda, now a broke, recovering alcoholic living with her sister and brother-in-law. Daughter Brooke, a writer recently emerging from a devastating depression, and son Trip, a producer of a hit TV reality show, are visiting. The catalyst for the drama is Brooke’s about-to-be-published memoir in which she focuses on the family’s deepest wound. At the height of the Vietnam War, eldest son Henry was involved in a radical underground group which set off a bomb at a recruiting station, resulting in the death of a janitor and Henry’s subsequent suicide.

Lily Rabe, Joe Keery, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
in Other Desert Cities.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

Baitz increases the stakes by adding a deadline. The New Yorker wants to publish excerpts from Brooke’s tome and they require an answer by New Year’s. Brooke needs her parents’ approval or at least their understanding which they refuse to grant. That’s the conflict and Baitz lays it out beautifully with pithy dialogue and Hickey’s staging is perfectly timed and impactful.

Lily Rabe and Ed Harris in 
Other Desert Cities.
Credit: Emilio Madrid

In Mantello’s 2011 production there were no villains and no heroes, everyone’s position was understandable. But in this edition, sympathy flows to the parents. That may be because the expert comedienne Julia Louis-Dreyfus is making her Broadway debut as Polly. Her timing is so expert she gets laughs just by punching sofa pillows, waving a hand to indicate her children should get their feet off the furniture, or taking out a cigarette to express her frustration with the situation. In addition, her delivery of Baitz’s stinging barbs and caustic retorts rake in minutes-long guffaws and she feelingly conveys Polly’s hurt and anger at what she perceives as her daughter’s betrayal. 

Meanwhile, the usually exquisite Lily Rabe as Brooke comes across as whiny and self-indulgent (the character not the actress.) Dressed by costume designer Tom Broecker in sloppy casual wear and standing in a perpetual slouch, Rabe’s Brooke is a cringing victim overwhelmed by her despair. In the 2011 productions, Elizabeth Marvel Off-Broadway and Rachel Griffiths on gave Brooke a spine and made her an equal combatant against Stockard Channing’s steely yet vulnerable Polly.

As Silda, a standout featured role for which Judith Light won a Tony on Broadway and in which Linda Lavin was brilliant at the Newhouse, Allison Janney, normally on the money, overplays her vehement anger at Polly’s conservative politics and tips Silda into caricature. (Broecker’s splashy, over-the-top costumes for her don’t help.) Fortunately, Ed Harris as Lyman displays quiet, restrained dignity and Joe Keery exposes the hidden depths of the seemingly shallow Trip. 

Don’t get me wrong. This Desert is still an entertaining and moving evening (it better be at those astronomical prices, with top seats going for four figures). But not all the parties are rendered equally relatable and sympathetic.

Oct. 18—Jan. 17, 2027. Hudson Theater, 144 W. 44th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. us.atgtickets.com.