“CVRep’s Other Desert Cities is a very well-acted production that peels back the curtain on a loving, yet dysfunctional family trying to make sense of the past and navigate their way to a positive future—something to which we can all relate.”–-Bonnie Gilgallon, CVIndependent

“The preview of the Coachella Valley Repertory production of “Other Desert Cities,” which formally opens tonight in Cathedral City, is the fourth iteration of the show I’ve seen. I watched it in Los Angeles after its Broadway run and I saw it in the CVRep’s tiny Rancho Mirage theater in 2013. Of course, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play also has had productions in other desert cities.

But this Cathedral City show is the best I’ve seen, largely because director Philip Wm. McKinley uses his knowledge of the desert to make it hyper local.” By: Bruce Fessier

“As a regular theatergoer who has seen Jon Robin Baitz‘s Other Desert Cities before–twice in the Coachella Valley–I wasn’t expecting to be surprised. Well, it was more than a play; it was an experience. At rise, I found myself embraced by a set that invited me into the living room of an upscale Palm Spring home. From that moment on, I was captured by the sensitive acting and masterful direction in this stunning production at Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre in Cathedral City. “By: June August, BroadwayWorld

Theater Review: OTHER DESERT CITIES (CV Rep)

by Jason Mannino on April 24, 2025

in Theater-Palm Springs (Coachella Valley)

CV Rep’s Other Desert Cities is nothing short of revelatory. John Robin Baitz’s lacerating family drama, set in a chic Palm Springs home but echoing across decades of American political history, finds fresh fire in this masterful production directed by Philip Wm McKinley. Gorgeously acted and beautifully designed, this staging not only does justice to Baitz’s text — it reclaims it as a vital piece of commentary on the seductive illusions and buried wounds of American conservatism.

Bruce Sabath & Lois Robbins

At its core, Other Desert Cities is a play about the cost of silence — the silence demanded by loyalty, by legacy, and most insidiously, by politics. The Wyeth family, former darlings of the Reagan era, are locked in a cold war of their own, where ideology is weaponized as both shield and sword. It’s a portrait of a conservative family haunted by a past they refuse to fully acknowledge, preferring instead the comforting clarity of party lines over the murky complexities of truth.

Dawn Cantwell & Luke Wehner

As Brooke Wyeth, the liberal writer returning home with a memoir that threatens to detonate the family’s carefully maintained myth, Dawn Cantwell delivers a performance of brittle intelligence and seething heartbreak. Her confrontation with the family’s deep-rooted denial is both deeply personal and sharply political — she’s a daughter demanding emotional honesty in a household that’s built its identity around suppressing it.

Lois Robbins, Bruce Sabath, Dawn Cantwell

Polly Wyeth, played with stunning control and force by Lois Robbins is the embodiment of old-guard conservatism: charming, vicious, and obsessed with appearances. Her patriotism borders on pathology, and the way she rationalizes deception in the name of “protecting the country” hits uncomfortably close to the rhetoric we still hear in right-wing circles today.

As Lyman, the family patriarch and former GOP ambassador, Bruce Sabath gives a performance of devastating restraint. Lyman is a man who once believed in the promise of Republican nobility — and now quietly bears the weight of all that was compromised in its name.

Susan J. Jacks, Dawn Cantwell, Bruce Sabath

The always-watchable Susan J. Jacks as the brassy, recovering-alcoholic aunt Silda offers some of the show’s most biting comic relief, while also grounding the emotional tension with her moral clarity. Rounding out the cast, Luke Wehner as younger brother Trip is a breath of fresh air, delivering one of the play’s most humane and level-headed perspectives — an essential contrast to the more ideologically entrenched family members.

McKinley directs with a surgeon’s precision, never letting the dialogue devolve into polemic. Instead, they draw out the humanity in each character, making the political all the more painful because it’s so deeply entangled with personal regret and loss. The result is a production that feels intimate and volcanic at the same time — a family drama that doubles as an autopsy of American conservatism.

The cast

The set design by Jimmy Cuomo is a marvel of mid-century, desert luxury: a pristine, sunlit Palm Springs living room that exudes calm but conceals emotional landmines. There’s a coldness to the elegance — the kind of curated sterility that reflects a world where truth is buried beneath aesthetics and ideology. The lighting and sound design work subtly but effectively to heighten the play’s ever-tightening grip.

Though written in 2011, Other Desert Cities feels eerily prescient today. The play interrogates the mythology of conservative America — the insistence on order, tradition, and moral high ground — and reveals how those values can be used to suppress dissent, even within one’s own family. It is a pointed exploration of how conservatism often conflates silence with strength, and shame with patriotism.

Dawn Cantwell & Susan J. Jacks

In an age where political tribalism continues to fracture families and erode empathy, CV Rep’s production reminds us just how much damage is done when ideology replaces intimacy. And it asks, with devastating clarity: what truths must be told, no matter the cost?

This is a production that doesn’t just stage a great American play — it resurrects it with a searing urgency. CV Rep has delivered one of the most emotionally intelligent and politically relevant theatrical experiences this season. It’s a must-see for anyone grappling with what it means to love your family — and your country — when the two no longer see eye to eye.

All photos by David A. Lee

Other Desert Cities
Coachella Valley Repertory
68510 East Palm Canyon Dr in Cathedral City
Wed & Sat at 2 & 7; Thurs & Fri at 7; Sun at 2
ends on to May 4, 2025
for tickets, call 760.296.2966 x115 or visit CV Rep

BRUCE FESSIER review on Facebook

April 24, 2025

It’s not every day that you get to see a production of a hit Broadway show written by one neighbor and directed by another – both of whom are icons in their fields.

But that’s what living in Rancho Mirage is like, and that’s what Jon Robin Baitz’s play, “Other Desert Cities,” reminds you that it’s like.

The preview of the Coachella Valley Repertory production of “Other Desert Cities,” which formally opens tonight in Cathedral City, is the fourth iteration of the show I’ve seen. I watched it in Los Angeles after its Broadway run and I saw it in the CVRep’s tiny Rancho Mirage theater in 2013. Of course, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play also has had productions in other desert cities.

But this Cathedral City show is the best I’ve seen, largely because director Philip Wm. McKinley uses his knowledge of the desert to make it hyper local. McKinley, director of such big Broadway musicals as “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark” and “The Boy From Oz,” starring Hugh Jackman, elicits great performances from his out-of-town cast, and everything rings true.

“Other Desert Cities” is about a Walter and Leonore Annenberg-type family that has become a symbol of turn-of-the-century Republican values despite the demise of a son involved in a horrific crime. The patriarch, Lyman Wyeth, is a former actor who, like Walter, became an ambassador. He and his wife, Polly, a former screenwriter, are part of a social circle with the Reagans and Bloomingdales. Their daughter, Brooke, writes a Patti Davis-type tell-all book about her family that causes consternation as the family gathers for Christmas in the desert.

The play’s title comes from Brooke wearily recalling the I-10 sign pointing drivers to Palm Springs or Other Desert Cities, and saying metaphorically, “Sometimes I want to turn off at Other Desert Cities and just keep going.”

Baitz fills the play with insightful nuggets that draw knowing laughs from the locals, like Polly saying, “We have meth labs just outside of town,” and Lyman sneaking a cigarette and telling Brooke, “It’s amazing what you will do to entertain yourself in the desert.”

But McKinley complements these gems with sights and sounds that give the show an accurate sense of place from a historical and anthropological perspective. The show opens, before the first line of dialogue, with a recording of Barry Manilow singing “(There’s No Place Like) Home For the Holidays,” telling us it’s Christmas and Barry is omnipresent in the Coachella Valley then. During breaks in the action, we hear radio announcers delivering accurate local news from the era, such as Dorothy Kloss of “The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies” getting a City of Palm Springs day in her honor, which is then noted in dialogue by the Wyeth son, Trip.

Visually, the show is distinguished by the mid-century modern set created by the venerable Jimmy Cuomo. A 360-degree image of a backyard with a pool, palm trees and bougainvillea is seen through a back wall window, expanding the stage and providing the indoor-outdoor theme of mid-century modern architecture to match the interior design. The set is like an extra character in the play, telling us the house occupants are bigger than life, like the members of Tamarisk Country Club when Annenberg, Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra belonged to it. But the family story is intimate within a physically large setting.

Moira Wilkie’s lighting on the backyard images changes subtly with the time of day and the wigs or hair styles by Lynda Shaeps also tell stories. Lois Robbins, as Polly, wears her country club-styled hair kind of like her role model, Nancy Reagan (and exactly like the late Palm Springs maven, Rosalie Hearst). Susan J. Jacks, as her frank, funny but chaotic sister, Silda, has a rat nest for a head of hair.

The cast, also including Dawn Cantwell as Brooke, Bruce Sabath as Lyman, and Luke Wehner as Trip, have varied careers, but they all come together to realize the wit and drama of the play.

McKinley and artistic director Adam Karsten say Baitz didn’t participate in the development of this production. The L.A. native, who wrote last year’s brilliant limited series, “Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans,” is now co-creating a legal drama starring Naomi Watts, Glenn Close, Sarah Paulson and Kim Kardashian. But I think he’d love this CVRep production of “Other Desert Cities.”

It continues through May 4. Go to CVRep.org for ticket information.

This production is running at Coachella Valley Repertory Through May 4, 2025

By: June August April 28, 2025

As a regular theatergoer who has seen Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities before–twice in the Coachella Valley–I wasn’t expecting to be surprised.  Well, it was more than a play; it was an experience.  At rise, I found myself embraced by a set that invited me into the living room of an upscale Palm Spring home.  From that moment on, I was captured by the sensitive acting and masterful direction in this stunning production at Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre in Cathedral City.

Those of us who remember the halcyon days of television family life are aware of  the shift in character dynamic that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Today, it is common that families, as portrayed by the media, are dysfunctional.  Baitz has created a complicated dysfunction in the Wyeth family that distinguishes Other Desert Cities. Their issues cover a wide range of topics.  Since I allowed myself to be surprised, I won’t be a spoiler by giving away the story

Here are the women:  Dawn Cantwell (Brooke Wyeth) is totally immersed in her character as the daughter and sister who comes home to warn her family that she is about to betray them.  Although this is her long-delayed come-uppance, she cares enough to provide a heads-up.  Lois Robbins (Polly Wyeth) is charming and believable as the self-involved, well-to-do Palm Springs Replublican.  But she doesn’t look old enough to have adult children.  (That’s a compliment, Lois.) In Act II she reveals her depth of emotion.  You might recognize people you know in the performace of Susan J. Jacks (Silda Grauman).  She is funny and touching and perceptive as an alcoholic trying to navigate a dependent relationship with her younger sister Polly.

Now the men:  Bruce Sabath (Lyman Wyeth) looks the part, sounds the part, and is convincing that that he, like his idol Ronald Reagan, have given up show buimness for a career in politics.  His turn in Act II is gut-wrenching.  How I wish I had a brother like Luke Wehner‘s Trip Wyeth.  He would challenge me and be the one person I could disagree with and never stop loving with all my heart.  Thank you, Luke, for that portrait.

As I mentioned, I am quite familiar with this play, but I didn’t know it would be like this. The actors were inspired. I credit the director, Philip Wm. McKinley for that. Jimmy Cuomo and the set construction crew, you’ve done it again!

By Bonnie Gilgallon – April 24th, 2025

Family secrets are like vampires. They never really die, and can always come back to bite you. —Alberta J. McMorris

CVRep’s production of Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities takes an in-depth look at the gnawing pain and dysfunction long-held secrets can create in families—and what can happen when those secrets finally revealed. The play opened on Broadway in 2011, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The story centers around the Wyeth family. It’s Christmas Eve 2004, and retirees Polly and Lyman are hosting a small get-together at their Palm Springs home. Lyman is a former actor who became active in Republican politics. Polly, also a Republican, is a tennis-playing socialite who once wrote a series of comedic movies for MGM back in the 1960s. Her former writing partner is her liberal sister, Silda, a recovering alcoholic who’s now living with the Wyeths. The sisters are estranged due to their polar-opposite political beliefs.

Daughter Brooke Wyeth, a divorcee and successful New York writer, is visiting for the first time in six years. (The play’s title comes from a road sign—one you’ve almost certainly seen yourself—that Brooke passes when coming to visit: One exit leads to Palm Springs, while the other heads to “other desert cities.” Brooke often yearns to take the latter.) Trip, the son and a Los Angeles-based producer of a courtroom reality show, is also on hand.

Brooke has brought along the manuscript of her new book, a memoir detailing the suicide of her older brother, Henry, following a violent incident stemming from his 1970s counterculture activities. Brooke is hoping for her family’s blessing to move forward with the book, but makes it clear she will publish it even if they object. She’s been dealing with depression since the long-ago loss of her brother, even spending six months in a psychiatric hospital, and feels that the book is part of her healing process.

Family visits during the holidays are often fraught with drama, resentment and the rehashing of old hurts, and this play delves into all of that. Throw in political divides, alcoholism, depression, possible new family secrets and a tell-all book, and things can get pretty heavy—though there’s also plenty of humor in Other Desert Cities.

Philip Wm. McKinley’s direction is impeccable. In a play with ample dialogue and not a lot of physical action, pacing is vital; McKinley keeps things moving right along, with his actors tossing off zingers with just the right energy. There is not one moment of silence that is not dramatically appropriate. McKinley elicits top-notch performances from each of his actors.

The cast is very strong. As the patriarch Lyman Wyeth, Bruce Sabath is just right. Nostalgic for his days in front of the camera when he rubbed elbows with the Reagans, Sabath’s Lyman is also busy trying to keep the peace in his family. He loves them all and must referee between his overbearing wife and headstrong daughter, all while agonizing over whether to reveal one last secret.

Lois Robbins is terrific as Polly. From the moment she jauntily enters following a game of tennis, the audience knows she’s in charge. With her stylish tennis skirt and her classic blonde flip, it’s clear she never has a hair out of place. Robbins expertly conveys Polly’s staunchly Republican values, including strength, appearances and following the rules.

In the pivotal role of Brooke, Dawn Cantwell is superb. The never-ending grief over the loss of her older brother comes across as quite genuine; we feel her pain as she’s torn between wanting approval of her book from her family, and the determination to tell her story, no matter what. Brooke is the “truth-teller” in her dysfunctional family—the one who questions the family’s unhealthy dynamics and often becomes the target of blame. Cantwell nails it.

As Brooke’s brother Trip, Luke Wehner is flawless. Laid-back and smoking a joint, Trip just wants to enjoy Christmas with his family, and not get bogged down with all the drama of the past. He provides much of the play’s comic relief and is fun to watch onstage.

Rounding out the cast is Susan J. Jacks, who is a hoot as Aunt Silda. Broke and just out of rehab for alcoholism, Silda’s temporary move into the Wyeth home is proving to be problematic. Jacks has great comic timing and provides some very funny moments.

Jimmy Cuomo’s sets are always stellar, and this one is no exception: It’s a high-end, well-appointed Palm Springs living room, complete with a lovely, classy Christmas tree. The costumes, makeup, lights and sound all work well here.

CVRep’s Other Desert Cities is a very well-acted production that peels back the curtain on a loving, yet dysfunctional family trying to make sense of the past and navigate their way to a positive future—something to which we can all relate. It sparks a debate on whether it’s healthier to keep family secrets hidden, or to bring them out of the dark into the light of day—a question you’ll grapple with long after the final curtain call.

Other Desert Cities will be performed at 7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; and 2 p.m., Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, through Sunday, May 4, at the CVRep Playhouse, 68510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Cathedral City. Tickets are $80 (except for opening night, Thursday, April 24, when tickets are $110), and the running time is just less than 2 1/2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission. For tickets or more information, call 760-296-2966, or visit www.cvrep.org.

When a young lady arrives at her parents’ Palm Springs manor on Christmas Eve with a copy of her ‘tell-all’ memoir in tow she uncovers a devastating family secret—launching her parents into a panic that threatens to rip the clan apart.

This scintillating Pulitzer Prize finalist will grip you from start to finish.  Don’t miss CVRep’s staging of a play that’s close to home in so many ways.

With stinging wit and razor-sharp insight, OTHER DESERT CITIES “has the appeal of a Broadway hit from another age” (The New York Times).

The production opens April 23rd, 2025 and will feature five incredibly talented actors all with New York credits.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Elf the Musical Lands on the VERY, VERY NICE LIST! The show has CRACKED THE CODE OF ALL-AGES COMEDY, the kind that will leave children and grown-ups equally helpless with laughter.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Starring an EXUBERANT GREY HENSON, Elf the Musical has gotten Buddy DELIGHTFULLY, ENTIRELY RIGHT. It’s a tonic of a performance – the kind that makes you smile later, just thinking about it.”

TIME OUT

★★★★ “Elf the Musical is a Christmas Gift. My grinchiness vanished; to be replaced with a big wide grin…THIS SHOW IS REALLY ELFIN’ GOOD.”

THE NEW YORKER

“This revival EXUDES FRESHNESS–from Grey Henson’s spirited performance as a wide-eyed Buddy to Liam Steel’s playful choreography. The book and the score HAVE THE CRACKLE AND GLOW OF A FIRE IN THE HEARTH. Altogether, it’s enough to MAKE YOU BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS.”

DAILY BEAST

“With ROUSING SEAONSAL NUBMERS and NIFTY WIFT, Elf the Musical is a gift for kids and adults, and a very ‘Sparklejollytwinklejingley’ night out!”

DEADLINE

“Fans of the film, this cheery Elf has your tinseled name on it! A TERRIFIC SEAN ASTIN is having what seems to be the time of his life, as Santa himself…GREY HENSON fits into Buddy’s green winklepickers AS CINDERELLA DID A GLASS SLIPPER.”

BBC RADIO

“A CROWD-PLEASING, FEEL-GOOD DELIGHT, with SUPER SHOWMANSHIP and great dance choreography. The PERFECT STOCKINGSTUFFER, for children and adults alike this holiday season.”

THE SUN

“A RARE THING: A musical comedy that succeeds in its own GIDDY INGENUITY. AS SMART, EBULLIENT PRODUCTION that truly provides fun for the whole family.”

THEATERMANIA

“It made this jaded critic believe in Santa Claus again for one GLIMMERING, EPHEMERAL MOMENT OF THEATER MAGIC.”

The Three Musketeers musical produced by Shochiku Co, Ltd and Quarus Inc.

Masayuki Sakamoto and Seiya Suezawa star in the adventure story of the bond between Athos and D’Artagnan in the original musical “The Three Musketeers.”

While retaining the elements of a spectacular adventure drama, the production emphasized the psychological depiction of the characters. The main theme song “All For Love”, was once sung by Bryan Adams with Rod Stewart and Sting as the theme song of the movie “The Three Musketeers.”

“The Three Musketeers” was performed at the Nissei Theater in Tokyo from September 8 ~ 28, at Hiroshima Bunka Gakuen HBG Hall in Hiroshima from October 4 ~ 6, and at Sky Theater MBS in Osaka from October 18 ~ 27. The production played to sold out houses and critical raves in all three cities. The production became so successful plans are being made for a revival.

Masayuki Sakamoto, Seiya Suezawa star in thee musical “The Three Musketeers” along with co-stars Tomona Yahiku, Kohei Ueguchi, Yuichi Harada, Ryuji Ueyama, Sylvia Grubb, and Kiyotaka Imai

By Patrick Hipes

‘Elf the Musical’  Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Elf the Musical, which returned to Broadway last month for a limited run, grossed $2,230,419 across eight performances for the week ending December 22, breaking the house record at the Marquis Theatre to highlight the pre-holiday box office frame.

The revival, which stars Mean Girls Tony nominee Grey Hanson as Buddy the Elf and Sean Astin as Santa, beat its previous week’s gross of $2,033,784 and grew to 98% capacity at the massive Marquis. The show was fourth overall in box office for the week behind only the usual suspects Wicked (a frame-leading $3,024,095 at the Gershwin), The Lion King ($2,897,476 at the Minskoff) and Hamilton ($2,491,550 at the Richard Rodgers), all of which also saw week-over-week gains.

Based on the now-holiday staple 2023 movie starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, Elf the Musical first opened on Broadway during the 2010-2011 season with a book by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, with songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. It returned to New York for a 2012-2013 holiday run with a revised book. It had record-breaking holiday runs in the West End in 2022 and 2023.

For the frame, Elf surpassed the previous Marquis record held by Beetlejuice, which grossed $2,146,200 million the week ending January 8, 2023. Elf is set to run through January 5.

Photo by Andy Henderson

AS REPORTED ON PLAYBILL:

“It was also a sparkle-jolly-twinkle-jin-gle-y week for Elf The Musical, with gross sales of $2,230,419 and an average ticket price of $177.21. In fact, the holiday return of the family-friendly holiday show, co-starring Grey Henson and Sean Astin, broke the house record at the Marquis. The previous record of $2,146,200 was held by Beetlejuice for its eight-performance week ending January 8, 2023.“