OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
#1OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:14am
Today is Thursday, November 3, marking the official opening performance of Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities -- the acclaimed drama about a wealthy Republican family dogged by its past -- at the Booth Theatre.
The play is coming-off the heels of a sold-out run Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater last winter under the direction of Joe Mantello, who returns for the Broadway production. Preview performances began October 12.
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.
The company includes Stockard Channing as family matriarch Polly Wyeth, Stacy Keach as her husband Lyman, Thomas Sadoski as their son Trip, the trifecta returning from the previous run. New to the Broadway production are Judith Light, in the role of acidic alcoholic aunt Silda Grauman, and Rachel Griffiths as daughter Brooke Wyeth.
For those curious, or who didn't see the previous mounting, 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."
#2OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:02amI hope this show gets the rave reviews it deserves. Seeing it again on November 19, and I can't wait. Best of luck to all involved!
#3OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:09amSo excited to see this, although a little disappointed that they don't have a student rush policy. Makes it harder for me to get to see it, but I'm determined to!
#4OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 5:19pm
PianoMann, try LincTix. I got a front row seat at yesterday's matinee for $30. Better seat than the one Carol Burnett had at the same performance!
Incredible performances. Start etching those Tonys...
HBBrock
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/11/07
#5OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 6:02pm
All the Linctix have been Row BB Center Orchestra....isn't that the second row, or is it the first?
How is the first row center with the new seats?
#6OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 6:03pmBB is the first row. The stage is low, and there are no obstructions. The seats are perfect.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#7OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 7:25pm
Matthew Murray, Republican, hated it (not surprisingly).
This should bode well for the show, given how out there his taste usually runs.
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/OtherDesertCities.html
#8OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 7:47pmI thought LincTix was age restricted starting at 21. I'm unfortunately just having the opportunity to use my student ID but too young to meet that age...
metsfan
Chorus Member Joined: 7/29/09
#9OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 9:13pmWow, that Matthew Murray is just not very bright, is he?
#10OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 9:17pmI found that LincTix also works if you were born in 1990 but not 21 yet (i.e. are 20). In case you happened to just fall short..
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#11OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 9:18pm
Ah, I see your dilemma, PianoMann. I have no idea why LincTix would restrict anyone younger than 21. You're not the first I've heard complaints about this. They still have a ton of kinks to work out in the system.
Also, back in the day, LincTix for this show were in the rear mezzanine.
#12OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 10:17pm
Brantley is a rave, even more so than his previous review
NYT
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#13OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:30pmI loved Ben's review of this. Exactly my feelings, to the letter. It's a beauty, this play, and a gold standard production. I hope it lasts, and plays beyond its scheduled exit January 8th, even if with new players. What roles! What a story! When is the last time you saw a play you wanted to stay up and talk about over drinks!
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#14OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:31pmMurray saw a different play, one locked in his own biases. And not just political, but artistic.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
#15OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/4/11 at 10:50amWildly overrated, and of course Brantley would rave again. They should have sent Isherwood, who might have had a more measured response. The cast is more interesting, true, but the play is so superficial, and so clearly based on "A Delicate Balance " (and not very well) that Edward Albee should be given a credit. A play that gracefully and emptily soothes its audience, without ever provoking an honest emotion. This is barely a step us from the dross of "Brothers and Sisters" and not worthy of these reviews. Hopefully "Clybourne Park," which I saw last night at Steppenwolf, will make its way to Broadway in the spring and blow this play out of the water.
#16OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/4/11 at 2:10pmlinctix are now back row mezz, unless that is actually the best seat it will offer me for the 12th at 2.
"I've never encountered such religiously, you know, loyal fans as Broadway musical theater fans. It's amazing."
--Allison Janney
#17OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/19/11 at 9:37pm
Just to give everyone an update. I had tickets for this evening's show and we ended up getting a refund becuase Stockard Channing is injured and was out of tonight's performance. Best wishes to her for a speedy recovery...hope she doesn't have to miss too many shows, since this is "one of the best performances of her career."
There weren't too many of us on the refund line...hope the show still holds up without her.
We rebooked for January 14.
#18OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/20/11 at 8:50amDid anyone see the show with Stockard's standby? How was she?
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#19OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/20/11 at 9:13amPianoMann, They also do standing room for $26.50 when the show is sold out. Great spot, then usher moved me and two ladies to third row center for second act. Great seat for the price. Stage door (November 11) was great. Only five of us. All posed for pictures, except for Keach who goes out front door.
#20OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/20/11 at 5:58pm
She's undergoing surgery tomorrow but the article says she'll be back by the end of the week.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/156783-Stockard-Channing-Out-of-Other-Desert-Cities-Due-to-Knee-Injury
#21OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/20/11 at 6:33pm
I have tickets for the Wednesday matinee, and, concerned I won't see it with her (which would disappoint me, but that's really my only opportunity to see the show in the next 6 months.) I called telecharge and they know just as much as we do, and said to call back for exchanges/refunds tomorrow when an official announcement is made by LCT.
:/
#22OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/21/11 at 8:07pm
BUMP.
A friend made a good point to me today, wondering if it might hold up? She said that with Channing being the biggest star of the show, many people would start expecting refunds/exchanges and LCT might rush her back to the show to keep ticketholders from detracting from their gross. Does it seem like they would do that?
#23OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/21/11 at 11:27pm
If you're saying that LCT will rush Stockard back into the show even if she's not completely healed just to ensure that ticket sales will remain high, no I don't think LCT would do that...and I don't think Stockard will come back until she is fully healed.
She is in her late 60s and, one would think, she wants to be in the show through the Tony Awards (so she can collect another Tony!). As upset as I was that she was out on Saturday, I will gladly wait for her knee to heal until I see the show again. She is so brilliant in this role and I hope she is with the show for a long time.
#24OTHER DESERT CITIES Reviews
Posted: 11/22/11 at 9:30am
There was still a LONG cancellation line for Sunday's matinee, at which Channing didn't perform, so I don't think her presence really has that much bearing for people who want to see the show. As WAT noted, there were very few people who asked for refunds the night he was slated to attend.
It seems like people are really going to see the play above all else.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
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