A representative for the production confirmed to Playbill.com that LCT hopes to transfer Other Desert Cities to a Broadway house this fall, due to the fact that all suitable theatres are booked this spring. The New York Times first reported the story.
Shubert Organization chairman Philip J. Smith also told the Times that Other Desert Cities is on their radar for Broadway, but a lack of theatre availability prevents an immediate spring transfer.
Other Desert Cities opened to strong reviews Jan. 13 at LCT's Off-Broadway space, the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Joe Mantello directs Baitz's drama about a shamed Republican family who buries a crime committed by their eldest son, only to have their daughter return home with news of an explosive memoir. The New York Times described the play as "the most richly enjoyable new play for grown-ups that New York has known in many a season."
Originally billed as Love and Mercy, the play was first announced to arrive on Broadway during the 2011 season with Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel attached as producers. It would have marked Baitz's Broadway playwriting debut.
Baitz previously told the New York Times that his initial reservations with a Broadway production of the play was the pressure to cast stars. Other Desert Cities boasts a roster of stage veterans including Tony Award winners Stockard Channing and Linda Lavin, and Golden Globe winner Stacy Keach. In addition to Channing (Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves), Lavin (The Sisters Rosensweig, Collected Stories) and Keach (Indians, "Hemingway"), the cast also features Tony Award nominee Thomas Sadoski (Reasons to Be Pretty) and Elizabeth Marvel (Seascape, Top Girls).
Baitz's plays include The Paris Letter, Ten Unknowns, Mizlansky/Zilinsky or Schmucks, A Fair Country, The Film Society, The Substance of Fire, The End of the Day and Three Hotels. He has also written the screenplays for "The Substance of Fire" and "People I Know" as well as for TV's "Brothers & Sisters" (which he created), "The West Wing" and "Alias."
Performances are currently scheduled through Feb. 27. Visit LCT.
View highlights from the show:
