Susan Granger’s review of “Other Desert Cities” (Hudson Stage Company: Oct., 2015)
Truth hurts – it stuns, shocks and stings. That’s why Jon Robin Baitz’s dazzlingly dry, witty observations about parents and children, secrets and blame have such resounding resonance.
Patrician former movie star-turned-United States Ambassador Lyman Wyeth (Malachy Cleary) and his self-righteous, Jewish wife, Polly (Colleen Zenk), are Old-Guard Hollywood conservatives, now living in retirement Palm Springs. Polly’s bitter sister, Silda (Peggy J Scott), a recovering alcoholic and Polly’s former screenwriting partner, has just moved in with them.
It’s Christmas, 2004, as their grown children gather for the holidays. Depressive Brooke (Brenda Withers) is an anguished novelist whose upcoming memoir spills long-kept family secrets, while Trip (Davy Raphaely) is a laid-back ‘reality’ television producer. An older son, Henry, is there in spirit only; he committed suicide after being implicated a fatal Weather Underground-style bombing which mortified and socially ostracized his parents during the Reagan era. This shame is the subject of Brooke’s book.
Creator of ABC-TV’s “Brothers & Sisters” (2006-2011), Baitz is in familiar territory, exploring social dysfunction, hypocritical politics and tantalizing drama. His barbed dialogue crackles as the family painfully probes its past. Ironically, Baitz was fired in 2007 by ABC executives because he wanted the series to take a darker, more dramatic tone, while they insisted on retaining its sit-com sensibility.
Familiar to TV audiences from “As the World Turns,” Colleen Zenk embodies the ferocious matriarch who is determined to protect the family from her daughter’s betrayal. She’s an extraordinarily witty actress who can deliver a good line like a stiletto through the ribs.
As her combative, liberal offspring, Brenda Withers is determined to breaks the barrier of things that polite, well-bred Republicans simply don’t discuss – supported by her diabolical aunt, Peggy J. Scott. Davy Raphaely and Malachy Cleary add satisfying support as voices of reason.
Deftly directed by Dan Foster, who staged the play in Nantucket this summer, it’s a redemptive tale of reconciliation, made even more believable by the entitled authenticity of David L. Arsenault’s sleekly chic set, Charlotte Palmer-Lane’s costumes, Andrew Gmoser’s lighting and William Neal’s sound.
(For those unfamiliar with California geography, the title comes from a roadside sign on Interstate 10, indicating the way to Palm Springs and Other Desert Cities.)
“Other Desert Cities” runs through Oct. 31 at North Castle Public Library’s Whippoorwill Hall in Armonk, New York. For ticket info, call 914-271-2811 or go to www.hudsononstage.com.