Julia Louis-Dreyfus will make her Broadway debut in the first Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s Tony Award-winning play Other Desert Cities, joining Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Joe Keery and Lily Rabe in the production directed by Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey.
The limited engagement is set for 16 weeks at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre, with previews beginning Tuesday, September 29, followed by opening night on Sunday, October 18. The production will run through Sunday, January 17, 2027. Producers announced both the casting and production details.
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Baitz said he had nearly ruled out seeing Other Desert Cities return to New York, but described Hickey as a trusted collaborator with deep understanding of the play’s ideas, emotions and rhythm. He said the new cast represents the kind of ensemble a playwright dreams about, and noted that the play’s central questions still feel urgent nearly two decades later.
Hickey said he has long admired Baitz’s work and was struck by how current Other Desert Cities remains when he revisited it. He called it a funny, surprising and heartbreaking portrait of an American family and said bringing it back to Broadway with the announced cast and creative team is a dream project.
The play first premiered Off Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater in 2011, featuring Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin, Stacy Keach, Thomas Sadoski and Elizabeth Marvel. It later transferred to Broadway’s Booth Theatre that same year, with Judith Light replacing Lavin and Rachel Griffiths replacing Marvel. The original Broadway production was directed by Joe Mantello.
The story centers on a politically connected family in Palm Springs whose Christmas Eve gathering turns tense when a daughter returns home with a memoir that threatens to reveal a devastating family secret. The official synopsis frames the drama as a struggle over memory, loyalty, legacy and the ownership of a family’s story, asking what it costs to tell the truth.
The creative team includes scenic designer Scott Pask, costume designer Tom Broecker, lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound designer and original music creator Mikaal Sulaiman, and hair and wig designer Robert Pickens.
The production is being mounted by ATG Productions, Bad Robot Live, Gavin Kalin Productions, Kristin Caskey, Bee Carrozzini and Mike Isaacson.
