One of television’s most beloved performers is finally taking the Broadway stage. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is set to make her Broadway debut in the first revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s Tony-winning drama ‘Other Desert Cities’, opening this fall at the Hudson Theatre.
The cast around her is stacked. Louis-Dreyfus plays Polly opposite Ed Harris as Lyman, Allison Janney as Silda, Joe Keery as Trip, and Lily Rabe as Brooke. Previews begin September 29 ahead of an official opening night on October 18, with the limited engagement running through January 17, 2027. Tony winner John Benjamin Hickey directs, and casting is by Jim Carnahan.
Baitz was candid that the return wasn’t part of his plans. He said he’d more or less talked himself out of imagining the play back in New York, but pointed to his deep trust in Hickey, who he calls family, and to a company of actors a playwright dreams about. He added that nearly 20 years later, through all the fractures and divisions, the play’s central questions remain the same: how to live with who we are and what we’ve done, and call that a life.
Hickey echoed that pull. He said he’s loved Baitz’s plays since the playwright began writing them, having acted in two early in his career, and that revisiting ‘Other Desert Cities’ left him stunned by how relevant it remains, maybe more than ever.
The play’s pedigree runs strong. ‘Other Desert Cities’ first premiered Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater in 2011 before transferring to Broadway later that year. It centers on a writer who threatens to publish a memoir exposing a long-buried family secret, igniting tension within her politically divided family, and it went on to become a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Tickets are on sale now through the production’s official website.
Performance Schedule:
September 29 – Previews begin, Hudson Theatre, New York, NY
October 18 – Official opening night
Through January 17, 2027 – Limited engagement