Channing (Six Degrees of Separation, The House of Blue Leaves) stepped out of the hit family drama late last week to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery Nov. 21. She returned to Other Desert Cities as of the evening of Nov. 25, but her understudy, Lauren Klein, will perform the role of Polly Wyeth during the Nov. 26 and Nov. 30 matinee performances, according to Lincoln Center Theater representatives.
Other Desert Cities opened to critical praises Nov. 8 and extended its limited Broadway run into an open-ended engagement at the Booth Theatre. Tickets are currently on sale through March 25, 2012. It is directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (The Normal Heart, Assassins, Wicked).
The cast also features Golden Globe winner Stacy Keach (Indians, "Hemingway") as Lyman Wyeth, Tony nominee Judith Light (Lombardi, "Ugly Betty") as Silda Grauman, Tony nominee Thomas Sadoski (Reasons to Be Pretty) as Trip Wyeth and Rachel Griffiths ("Brothers & Sisters") in her Broadway debut as Brooke Wyeth.
Channing, Keach and Sadoski were part of the world-premiere production of Other Desert Cities, which was seen Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater last winter.
Read Playbill's feature with the leading ladies of Other Desert Cities. 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."
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.
View highlights from the show:
