Title: ‘Other Desert Cities’ Broadway Review: A Sensational Revival URL Source: https://variety.com/2026/legit/reviews/other-desert-cities-broadway-review-1236915150/ Published Time: 2026-10-19T04:00:00+00:00 Markdown Content: 1. [Home](https://variety.com/) 2. [Legit](https://variety.com/v/legit/) 3. [Reviews](https://variety.com/c/reviews/) ## ‘Other Desert Cities’ Broadway Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris and Allison Janney Lead a Resounding Family Drama  Emilio Madrid.
They all come with their own unique histories, prejudices and mysteries. Jon Robin Baitz’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play “[Other Desert Cities](https://variety.com/t/other-desert-cities/),” set in the years following the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, explores harmful ideologies, grief, depression, memory and how secrets can wrap themselves around a family, slowly choking it from the inside out.Revived for the first time since 2011, this production, directed by John Benjamin Hickey, is gutting, witty and painfully timely.
“Other Desert Cities” opens on Christmas Eve 2004, at the Wyeths’ palatial Palm Springs home. Polly ([Julia Louis-Dreyfus](https://variety.com/t/julia-louis-dreyfus/)) and Lyman ([Ed Harris](https://variety.com/t/ed-harris/)), a former film writer and old Hollywood movie star, respectively, are thrilled to have their adult children home for the holidays.
Their son, Trip (Joe Keery), resides in Los Angeles and works as a producer for early-aughts reality TV shows. Their daughter, Brooke ([Lily Rabe](https://variety.com/t/lily-rabe/)), is a writer emerging from a near-decade-long battle with debilitating depression.
Until now, she has remained sequestered on the East Coast. The Wyeths have an especially full house since Polly’s sister, Silda ([Allison Janney](https://variety.com/t/allison-janney/)), is living with them following yet another stint in rehab for her alcohol addiction.