Other Desert Cities

“The Best New Play on Broadway!” Brantley, The New York Times
<— autographed by Rachel Griffiths 

 a play by Jon Robert Baitz directed by Joe Mantello with…

Stockard Channing

Rachel Griffiths Stacy Keach

Judith LightJustin Kirk

Signing autographs: photos, Sans Souci

Rachel Griffiths

Justin Kirk

Link to the New York Times> Review

Other Desert Cities is a drama currently playing on Broadway with a highly noted cast. Each member slips into his or her role and owns it; the acting was flawless. If you don’t know the cast members by sight you have certainly seen them on television over the years. I was lucky to catch Rachel Griffiths on the day of her final performance.

Here we have the typical dysfunctional family dynamic filled with confrontation, regrets, secrets, more confrontation, blow-ups, and more secrets.

When Brooke (Rachel Griffiths) visits her parents’ home in Palm Springs, with her newly published book in hand, her parents, (Polly Wyeth–Stockard Channing, and Lyman Wyeth–Stacy Keach) morph from what seems mundane, robotic, rich-community folk into explosive, defensive, angry strangers who threaten to disown her.

The book is about Brooke’s memoirs that force everyone in the family, including her brother (Trip Wyeth–Justin Kirk) and her Aunt (Silda Grauman–Judith Light), as well as herself, to visit the painful episode of her older brother’s demise. The absentee brother becomes a cast-member ghost who haunts the play carrying more secrets, which, when revealed implicate every family member as well as the audience. Do we judge, accept, or walk away guilty?

It is theater fraught with raw emotion and surprises, and it leaves us with the polemic: what would you have done and what would you do now? As the layers unfold the tension builds until the bomb is dropped; at that point it is not only a relief but an “aha” moment.

Now, what do we do with it, the truth?

Maybe we should have stayed on the highway and instead of exiting at Palm Springs, continued on to other desert cities.