The acclaimed drama about a wealthy Republican family dogged by its past played a sold-out run Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater last winter under the direction of Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (The Normal Heart, Assassins, Wicked), who returns for the Broadway production. Other Desert Cities began Broadway previews Oct. 12.
Here is the cast and guests on opening night:
The Broadway engagement, which marks Baitz's Broadway playwrighting debut, reunites major players from the Off-Broadway world premiere as well as a handful of new faces. Original Off-Broadway cast members reprising their performances include Tony winner Stockard Channing (Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves) as family matriarch Polly Wyeth, Golden Globe winner Stacy Keach (Indians, "Hemingway") as her husband Lyman and Tony nominee Thomas Sadoski (Reasons to Be Pretty) as their son Trip.
New to the Broadway production are Tony Award nominee Judith Light (Lombardi, "Ugly Betty"), who takes on the role of acidic alcoholic aunt Silda Grauman, with "Brothers & Sisters" star Rachel Griffiths as daughter Brooke Wyeth, who comes home with news of a shattering new book. Linda Lavin and Elizabeth Marvel originated the roles Off-Broadway, respectively.
Here's how LCT bills the play: "In Other Desert Cities Brooke Wyeth (Griffiths), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents, former members of the Reagan inner-circle (Channing and Keach), her brother (Sadoski) and her aunt (Light). When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family’s history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil and the Wyeths are both bound together and torn apart as they struggle to come to terms with their past."
The Broadway production features Lincoln Center Theater's original design team: John Lee Beatty (sets), David Zinn (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting), Jill BC DuBoff (sound) and Justin Ellington (original music).
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."
Tickets are currently on sale through Jan. 8, 2012. For tickets, priced $56.50-$126.50, visit Telecharge. A limited number of tickets priced $31.50 will be available at every performance through LincTix, LCT's new program for 21 to 35 year olds. For information and to enroll, visit LincTix.org.
