Amelia Musical Playhouse
November 16, 2018 4:00 p.m.
There is Palm Springs, and then there are other desert cities….
Other Desert Cities was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2012. It had a triumphant run on Broadway, garnering 5 Tony nominations and one win, and kudos for Stacy Keach, Stockard Channing, Judith Light, Rachel Griffiths, Tom Sadowski, and playwright Jon Robin Baitz.
It’s Christmas Eve, and fragile Brooke Wyeth has come home to visit her family for the first time in six years. She has a surprise in store for her wealthy celebrity parents, who are retired from glamorous Hollywood careers, members of the Republican elite, a former movie star and a successful screen writer. Brooke is a troubled author who has, after much struggle and delay, written a memoir which reveals painful secrets about her family and the story of her war-protesting lost brother Henry. These are secrets her parents Polly and Lyman Wyeth would rather keep to themselves.
Wanting their approval to publish, Brooke enlists the aid of her tv producer younger brother Tripp and her acerbic recovering alcoholic Aunt Silda in obtaining that approval. What starts as witty banter at a fun holiday gathering of a loving family takes surprising turns as the truth comes out, transforming everyone’s version of reality and altering the bonds and longstanding relationships which exist between them all.
Don Maley, best known for his one-man performance as Mark Twain and his portrayal of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, plays Lyman Wyeth, the patriarch. Real life mother/daughter team Diana Herman and Samantha Hilliker, who acted together in Rabbit Hole, perform together as Polly and Brooke, with Zach Williams as Tripp and Karen Harper King as Silda. Geoffrey King provides expert direction and set design, and set artwork is beautifully rendered by local artist Arthur Herman, who just appeared as Luther Billis in South Pacific.
The play opens November 29, with performances November 29 and 30, December 1, 7, and 8 at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are $15, available online from Brown Paper Tickets on www.ameliamusicalplayhouse.com , the Amelia Musical Playhouse website, or by calling 904-277-3455, or visiting the box office at 1955 Island Walkway.
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