Allison Janney as Silda Grauman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Polly Wyeth in “Other Desert Cities” (Credits: Emilio Madrid)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has officially arrived on Broadway — and critics say she has never been better. The Seinfeld and Veep star leads a powerhouse revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play “Other Desert Cities”, alongside Ed Harris and Allison Janney.
Revived for the first time since its 2011 premiere and directed by John Benjamin Hickey, the production is already drawing rave reviews, with critics calling it “gutting, witty and painfully timely.”
A Family Reunion That Turns Into a Reckoning
The play opens on Christmas Eve 2004 at the Wyeth family’s palatial Palm Springs home. Polly (Louis-Dreyfus), a former film writer, and Lyman (Harris), an old Hollywood movie star, welcome home their adult children: Trip (Joe Keery), a reality TV producer, and Brooke (Lily Rabe), a writer emerging from a near-decade-long battle with debilitating depression. Also at the table is Polly’s sister Silda (Janney), recovering from another rehab stint for alcohol addiction.
What starts as holiday bickering — the elder Wyeths are staunch Republicans, their children far less so — turns explosive when Brooke reveals her second book, due out in the new year, is not fiction. It is a memoir about the family’s most tragic secret: her older brother Henry’s death by suicide decades earlier, after his involvement in a cult bombing that left a man dead.
Screaming Matches, Secrets, and Standout Performances
Polly’s response is fury: she threatens to disown Brooke if the memoir is ever published. What follows is a series of violent mother-daughter confrontations before Lyman reveals a long-held secret of his own, bringing Brooke to her knees.
Critics have praised the production as “an exquisite portrait of 21st-century Americana,” noting the cast’s seamless shifts from quippy wit to heartbreaking outbursts. For Louis-Dreyfus, the Broadway debut is a serious turn from the comedy legend — and reviewers say she is “seriously funny” and devastating in equal measure.
“Other Desert Cities” runs on Broadway now. If you get the chance to see it, the early word is simple: go.
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.
