By Dale King
The Delray Beach Playhouse doesn’t often delve into heavy drama. But its latest offering, Other Desert Cities, certainly pushes the confrontational envelope, pitting family member against family member in a challenge that seems hell-bent on destroying already tenuous relations.
Director Randolph DelLago calls on three DBP veterans and a couple of theatrical newcomers to make the show work. And the cast performs excellently, reaching the heights of rancor that this production requires.
The edgy play penned by Jon Robin Baitz barely a half-dozen years ago concludes its three-week run with a matinee Sunday.
Other Desert Cities has an esteemed lineage. It premiered off-Broadway in January 2011 and moved uptown in November 2011 to become Baitz’s first Broadway show. It was also a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for five Tonys that year, including Best Play. Actress Judith Light won one of them for Actress in a Featured Role.
The production takes place around the Christmas holidays in 2004 when the family of Polly and Lyman Wyeth (Charlotte Sherman, Bob Lind) gather at their Palm Springs, Calif., home. Their daughter, Brooke (Kari Budyk), visits from New York, bringing her spunky attitude and liberal politics with her. While this doesn’t immediately clash with her parents’ Republican views, it certainly sets the stage for an imminent boilover.
Dysfunction is definitely in the air from the start. The audience meets Polly’s sister, Slida (Karen Whaley), who has just completed rehab, but is falling off the wagon again. Still living with his parents is younger son, Trip Wyeth (Anthony Howard-Erevia), who produces a TV show that seems to be held in low regard by his family.
Brooke tells her relations she is about to publish a book telling what she contends is “the real story” about her older brother, Henry, who purportedly committed suicide after defecting to a radical underground subculture and bombing an Army recruiting station. The family learns she got much of her information surreptitiously from Slida, which further enflames the family furor.
What happens next is obvious. Polly and Lyman order Brooke not to publish the book, claiming it will revive the trauma of a past era and reveal a horrible family secret. She stands firm. Trip tries to moderate. Slida comes to her niece’s defense. The audience is hushed as the players rip into each other. The angst increases to a fever pitch.
Ironically, a large Christmas tree stands in the front room of the Wyeth’s opulent California home throughout the play, a sign of peace and family joy in the midst of crisis. Also, little seems to be made of the fact that the Wyeths are Jewish and plan to have Christmas dinner at the country club.
Clearly, truth, justice and family values are at the core of this production. Budyk portrays Brooke as a crusader, a modern-day Joan of Arc who snubs authority for the sake of her own campaign. In the role, Budyk shines, commanding center stage for much of this play. She easily shakes off the mantle of her more ditzy roles for this meatier part.
Sherman also pours it on, reaching deep into her wealth of talent to create Polly, a sometimes-gentle, sometimes tough-as-nails, but always protective woman. She and Budyk shared the stage last year in Other People’s Money, which drew powerful performances from both.
As Lyman, Lind is excellent in his stage-acting debut. He is truly a man for all seasons, a singer, songwriter, poet, novelist and playwright. And, yes, he is the same Bob Lind who recorded the song “Elusive Butterfly,” a top-5 hit from a few years back.
Also new — sort of — is Howard-Erevia, who has done only one other show, On Golden Pond, in Boston. His character is perhaps the most sedate in the show, since he often tries to ease family tensions. But he does make a case for his own beliefs when necessary.
Whaley brings considerable experience to the DBP stage – a place where she has performed in 18 previous shows. She studied acting at the HB Studio with the late Sandy Dennis and has won several awards for her expertise. She has worked with both Sherman and Budyk in previous roles, and quips, “These gals seem to bring me luck.”
Other Desert Cities concludes Sunday at the Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW 9th St. (Lake Shore Drive), Delray Beach. For tickets, call 561-272-1281, extension 4.