RIALTO CHATTER: OTHER DESERT CITIES to Hit Broadway this Fall?

Lincoln Center Theater production of Jon Robin Baitz' OTHER DESERT CITIES, directed by Joe Mantello, opened on January 13 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. The cast features Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach, Linda Lavin, Elizabeth Marvel and Thomas Sadoski. Today, the New York Times suggests that the show is looking to transfer to Broadway, however, a full house on the Great White Way will prevent the show from making a spring move.

According to the report: "Philip J. Smith, chairman of The Shubert Organization, the biggest and most powerful theater owner on Broadway with 17 houses, said that he and his staff have had "Other Desert Cities" on their radar for months. But a quick transfer wasn't as easy as it was under the previous leadership team at The Shuberts, the late Gerald Schoenfeld and Bernard B. Jacobs, who were known for making deals to move hot properties quickly into their houses."

The Times quotes Smith: "The reality is, this is the third year when we've had more shows than theaters, which was not the case before...We have a department here dedicated to scouting out new shows and promising scripts in New York, across the country. We were talking to Bernie Gersten [the executive producer] at Lincoln Center last fall about how ‘Other Desert Cities' looked promising in the rehearsal hall. But we've also known since the fall that our houses would be all full this spring."

In Other Desert Cities, Brooke Wyeth (Elizabeth Marvel), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents (Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach), former members of the Reagan inner-circle, her brother (Thomas Sadoski), and her aunt (Linda Lavin). When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family's history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil and the Wyeths are both bound together and torn apart as they struggle to come to terms with their past.

OTHER DESERT CITIES has sets by John Lee Beatty, costumes by David Zinn, lighting by Kenneth Posner, sound by Jill BC DuBoff and original music by Justin Ellington.

Jon Robin Baitz returns to Lincoln Center Theater where his plays A Fair Country and Ten Unknowns premiered and where his play The Substance of Fire enjoyed an extended run after its original run at Playwrights Horizons. He is also the author of the plays Mizlansky/Zilinsky, The Film Society, The End of the Day, The Paris Letter, and, a new adaptation of Hedda Gabler. He wrote the screenplay for the film People I Know and the film version of The Substance of Fire. His television credits include The West Wing, Alias and Brothers & Sisters, which he created.

Joe Mantello directed the LCT productions of God's Heart and A Man of No Importance. Winner of two Tony Awards for his direction of Assassins and Take Me Out, his credits include Wicked, Pal Joey, November, The Receptionist, Three Days of Rain and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

OTHER DESERT CITIES plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturdays at 2pm and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets, priced at $85, are available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street) or by visiting telecharge.com or www.lct.org.