THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA Previews

The Hills are alive on 44th Street.

Six years after the New York success of The Ferryman, playwright Jez Butterworth and director Sam Mendes return to Broadway with their latest family saga The Hills of California, starting previews tomorrow night (September 11) at the Broadhurst Theatre. The ensemble cast of the new play — previously seen in London’s West End earlier this year — features Laura Donnelly, Leanne Best, Ophelia Lovibond, Helena Wilson, Nancy Allsop, Sophia Ally, Lara McDonnell, Nicola Turner, Bryan Dick, Richard Short, David Wilson Barnes, Richard Lumsden, Ta’Rea Campbell, Sawyer Barth, Ellyn Heald, Cameron Scoggins, and Max Roll. Opening night is September 29, and the limited engagement concludes on December 8.

“In the sweltering heat of a 1970s summer, the Webb sisters return to their childhood home in Blackpool, an English seaside town, where their mother Veronica lies dying upstairs. Gloria and Ruby now have families of their own. Jill never left. And Joan? No one’s heard from her in twenty years… but Jill insists that her mother’s favorite won’t let them down this time.

The run-down Sea View Guest House is haunted by bittersweet memories of amusement park rides and overdue bills. Back in the 1950s, each night the four young sisters rehearse their singing act, managed by their fiercely loving single mom. But when a record producer offers a shot at fame and a chance to escape, it will cost them all dearly.”

Who’s going?

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This was our favorite from our summer West End visit - such great performances by all of the actors. Laura Donnelly is a force of nature but all of the adult sisters are incredible, and each has phenomenal character moments. Really an ensemble show and so glad that the cast came over intact.

It’s a family drama (with a surprising number of good act one laughs thrown in) and it hits hard, dealing with relatable (at least for my family and me) themes like jealousy, obligation, ambition and making sense of trauma.

If the script stays largely unchanged, there’s a lot of local Blackpool color (colour?) in there, which we liked. It helps fix the show in a time and place. If the Lancashire accents remain as faithful as they were in the West End production, some audience members may lose a few words here and there, but it shouldn’t be too bad.

We’re booked for mid October. Can’t wait to see it again and hope it’s a success!

Back on TDF again, this time with a handful of matinees - and at 1 p.m. yet. Can't wait to see this.

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Better than watching a debate.

EDSOSLO858 said: "Telecharge says 2:45 runtime, including a 15-minute intermission."

Thinking the Broadway production may’ve trimmed 5-10 minutes from the original runtime, even accounting for the omission of the brief (5 minute) interval between acts two and three in the West End.

Updated On: 9/11/24 at 06:32 PM

Tonight's show started on time at around 7:08p and ended at 9:50p (and it flew by!)

Updated On: 9/11/24 at 10:28 PM

"...But The Ferryman and Jerusalem, it is not."

Agree...especially the unnecessary chain smoking that created a distraction and discomfort on the increasingly coughing audience.  Counted Laura lighting 5 in last 10-15 mins.   The smelly smoky haze went ceiling-bound as it permeated theater.

I love the Mendes/Butterworth/Donnelly combo. Saw Ferryman 9 times. Disappointed I have to choose between breathing comfortably and the show.

Updated On: 9/13/24 at 08:10 AM

Totally agree with the poster questioning why this transferred. It’s really not a great play like Jerusalem or Ferryman, and very expensive to put on. 
 

also agree that Donnellys last act character is just awful. It feels like her partner just wanted to write some parts that she could ACT and show range. 
 

The herbal cigarettes made me feel ill in london, I’m amazed they haven’t toned that down in NYC. It becomes incredibly distracting.

I was just writing down my thoughts about HOC and I think we have very similar taste in plays!  Definitely share and appreciation of powerful acting and great writing!  And a fine Rob Howell set!  Copying and pasting what I thought. I saw a preview of Hills of California last night and it blew me away.   We know Jez Butterworth is a great writer from Jerusalem and The Ferryman, two of my all-time favorites.  Packed with funny and heartbreaking performances, the play is the story of four sisters who we get to know at two different times in there lives.  Each woman has a fascinating story.  Except for Laura McDonald, who we already know is a great performer, the actors are new to me and they are all amazing.  I was in the front mezz on TDF – great seats!  Another mind-blowing set by Rob Howell, who did The Ferryman and Matilda!  Sam Mendes always keeps the action exciting on edge.  Everyone went nuts at the curtain call.  I hadn’t heard much about the show out of London.  I’m so glad I went early here.  I can’t wait to go again and I would recommend the production to anyone who wants to see epic, funny and moving theater.

i agree with many of the criticisms/points made here but i enjoyed this quite a bit. it could be shorter, but there is an onion-being-peeled way the plot unfolds, and i really dug the performances and the use of the set. nothing mindblowing but since I was not as enamored with The Ferryman as everyone else was, I found myself pleasantly surprised this evening.

one thing this play has in common with Ferryman is problems at the end. I found the "shocking" end to Ferryman to be totally unearned to the point of silly; here, the plot gets wobbly and yes, the 3rd Act character is such a wet noodle, performed so irritatingly, that it was the human embodiment of slowly letting air out a balloon. this is no slight to Laura Donnelly, who has gargantuan dialogue to deliver and does so perfectly in Acts 1 and 2. Still, I agree that the third act deserves better than--well i dont want to give any spoilers but its a bit of a let down.

And yet: its a uniformly wonderful cast with beautiful and often very funny performances including vocals. Ophelia Lovibond's voice was stellar (Tarea Campbell doesnt get to sing, which should be a crime no) but i thought all four women hit it out the park, and the last moment from one of the younger actresses was haunting. 

Theater was not all that full in the mezzanine for a Saturday night, but the response at curtain call was quite enthusiastic and well deserved.

It’s a good thing they partnered up with MTC so get tickets going.  Is there some sort of agreement between the two?  Like did the producers of this and water for elephants have to pay off MTC for this type of arrangement?  I could see them doing another round of 30 under 35 tickets. 

I think her delivery was quite irritating....

Dolly80 said: " also agree that Donnellys last act character is just awful. It feels like her partner just wanted to write some parts that she could ACT and show range."