The reviews are in for Other Desert Cities, the first Broadway revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s 2011 family drama, which opened at the Hudson Theatre on Sunday, October 18, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus making her Broadway debut beside Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Lily Rabe and Joe Keery. On one point the critics barely differ: Louis-Dreyfus is a superb comic marksman as Polly Wyeth, the Reaganite matriarch whose daughter comes home for Christmas with a memoir that threatens to expose the family. Where they part company is everything around her. Variety, The Guardian and People find the play newly urgent; Vulture, The Hollywood Reporter and amNewYork find it dated, and several notices think John Benjamin Hickey’s staging too slack for its cast.
The verdict: twenty reviews in so far. Only three outlets print a score, The Guardian and New York Stage Review with 4 out of 5 each and 1 Minute Critic with 5, an average of 4.3, while Time Out New York files its notice as "Not recommended" and the rest publish no rating. The critics agree that Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a formidable comic presence, and many of them say Joe Keery makes an outstanding Broadway debut as Trip. They divide over the rest: whether Louis-Dreyfus finds Polly’s darker side in the second act (Time Out New York, TheWrap, New York Theatre Guide and Cititour think not, People and 1 Minute Critic think so), whether John Benjamin Hickey’s direction is deft or slack, and whether a play set in 2004 still bites. The New York Times calls the debut smashing and the revival uneven.
What are critics saying about Other Desert Cities?
The New York Times
"‘Other Desert Cities’ Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Smashing Debut"
Reviewer: Helen Shaw
Shaw is thrilled by the star and much cooler on the evening around her: her standfirst calls it an uneven revival, and saves its warmest words for Allison Janney, whom she finds at her droll, insulting best.
"Whammo! Louis-Dreyfus has crashed at last into Broadway."
She reads the play as a state-of-the-nation allegory, vivid bickering before the interval and bitter revelations after it. Most of the notice sits behind the Times paywall.
The Guardian
"Other Desert Cities review – Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ed Harris shine in timely Broadway revival"
Reviewer: Juan A Ramírez · 4 out of 5
Ramírez is one of the warmest voices in the field. Any worry that this is Hollywood vanity casting, he writes, is quickly dispelled by the performances, the two newcomers above all, and he finds Hickey’s staging well matched to its company.
"This Pulitzer finalist play still has a lot to say."
He hears the play’s attacks on the Bush-era right as prescient now, and ends by wondering whether any Broadway stage would mount a play about the war being fought today.
Vulture
"Other Desert Cities Has Dried Up and Blown Away"
Reviewer: Sara Holdren
Holdren is the night’s fiercest dissenter. She sees a commercial vehicle built around famous faces at punishing prices, and a play whose politics are seasoning rather than substance.
"its essence is more daytime soap than scathing cri de coeur."
She finds Brooke a blocky, grim role that leaves Lily Rabe visibly uncomfortable, and the late twist a retcon that only satisfies if you do not look at it closely.
USA Today
"'Other Desert Cities' review – Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines on Broadway"
Reviewer: Patrick Ryan
Ryan splits the difference sharply between star and show. Louis-Dreyfus, he says, goes for the jugular and few actors land a barbed punchline better, but the production around her is another matter.
"bringing much-needed bite to a rudderless revival that never quite gets its bearings."
He calls Joe Keery sensational as Trip, finds the A-list company never quite gels as an ensemble, and, noting flubbed lines at the performance he saw, wonders whether Hickey had enough time with his cast.
Variety
"‘Other Desert Cities’ Broadway Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris and Allison Janney Lead a Resounding Family Drama"
Reviewer: Aramide Tinubu
Tinubu is the most enthusiastic of the trades, and she credits the whole company rather than one star, praising an ensemble that moves cleanly between quips and raw blow-ups.
"this production, directed by John Benjamin Hickey, is gutting, witty and painfully timely."
She calls it an exquisite portrait of 21st-century Americana, smart, authentic and deeply satisfying.
The Hollywood Reporter
"‘Other Desert Cities’ Theater Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris and Allison Janney Fail to Make a Once-Timely Play Relevant Again"
Reviewer: Richard Lawson
Lawson blames the pacing more than the actors. He finds a welcome jolt of energy early on, then a build that lurches instead of climbing, so the big reveal lands with little force.
"Just about everything else in this expensively populated place is arid, overheated and woefully devoid of life."
Only the play’s closing reflection, he writes, delivers real emotion.
Deadline
"'Other Desert Cities' Broadway Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Gets Serious"
Reviewer: Greg Evans
Evans grants that this staging feels different in tone from the acclaimed 2011 original, and not always to its advantage, but he argues the starry cast is not the only thing justifying the hot ticket.
"Baitz’ play seems just as vital in today’s bitterly divisive political and social environment."
He singles out Rabe for carrying the ambiguous epilogue, and calls Hickey’s added grace note there legitimate, if superfluous.
TheaterMania
"Review: Other Desert Cities Revival, a Triumphant Broadway Debut for Julia Louis-Dreyfus"
Reviewer: Zachary Stewart
Stewart has the audience eating out of Louis-Dreyfus’s hand within minutes, calls Janney’s timing exact to the millisecond, and reads Rabe’s Brooke as an Antigone defending her brother’s memory.
"It’s a first-rate production, in many ways better than the original."
His reservations are with the play itself: overwritten monologues, reveals that do not shock, and an epilogue tied up with cheap sentiment.
TheWrap
"'Other Desert Cities' Broadway Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Brings Biting Levity to Her Main Stem Debut"
Reviewer: Robert Hofler
Hofler, who interviewed Stockard Channing about the role in 2011, measures the new Polly against hers and finds the secret’s weight missing.
"Where Channing’s Polly possessed gravitas, Louis-Dreyfus’ Polly emerges as brittle to the touch."
He gives the moral weight of the ending to Ed Harris instead, and faults Trip as a mouthpiece for the playwright, an applause-seeking streak he says Keery does nothing to temper.
Time Out New York
"Broadway review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Other Desert Cities"
Reviewer: Adam Feldman · Not recommended
Feldman calls the revival uneven and finds the play’s critique of the Bush years both prescient and a little quaint now. Louis-Dreyfus excels at Polly’s sardonic wit, he says, but seems tentative once the second act turns dramatic.
"But the fire in the hearth of Scott Pask’s elegant set provides more real heat than most of the production."
His biggest surprise is Janney, whom he finds weightless in the role that won Judith Light a Tony.
amNewYork
"Review | ‘Other Desert Cities’ has more stars than sparks"
Reviewer: Matt Windman
Windman likens the evening to a package put together by a talent agency, and grants that seeing the five together is exciting. He gives each performer a fair hearing, Harris’s charm curdling into grief and Rabe’s fragility hardening into prosecution among them.
"this production never makes a convincing case that “Other Desert Cities” needed another trip to Broadway."
Fans meeting the play for the first time, he allows, may find it gripping.
People
"Julia Louis-Dreyfus Delivers One of Her Richest Performances Yet in Broadway’s ‘Other Desert Cities’"
Reviewer: Dave Quinn
Quinn writes as an unreserved admirer. He hears the comic precision that made Louis-Dreyfus a television icon, and a stage command that looks like a veteran’s.
"Louis-Dreyfus delivers one of the richest performances of her career as Polly Wyeth"
He praises Hickey as an actor’s director who lets the ensemble breathe, and finds the play’s politics almost prophetic 15 years on.
New York Stage Review
"Other Desert Cities: A Piercing Revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s Best Play"
Reviewer: Melissa Rose Bernardo · 4 out of 5
Bernardo admires a playwright who writes wars of words with everyone well armed, and calls Keery excellent. She thinks Louis-Dreyfus needs a few minutes to settle before she finds Polly’s wolf in sheep’s clothing, and that Janney plays Silda exactly as you would expect.
"But Baitz doesn’t do average—everything rises and falls on razor-sharp dialogue and cunningly crafted scenes."
Her colleague Frank Scheck also gives it 4 out of 5, but thinks Louis-Dreyfus a little miscast and names Keery and Rabe the evening’s MVPs.
Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s full review at New York Stage Review
1 Minute Critic
"'Other Desert Cities' review: Broadway's starriest family feud"
Reviewer: Lindsay B. Davis · 5 out of 5
Davis gives the only top score so far. She loves the first act’s unapologetic laughs and credits Hickey with a firm grip as the play darkens, and she calls Harris a lion roaming his natural habitat.
"An absolute beast of a production, Other Desert Cities argues that some family stories demand to be told."
In the end, she writes, the production belongs to Polly.
New York Theatre Guide
"'Other Desert Cities' Broadway review — an A-list ensemble faces off"
Reviewer: Christian Lewis
Lewis is the hardest on the cast, finding Rabe miscalibrated, Janney underused and the two leads at times unsteady on their lines. Louis-Dreyfus hits her stride whenever Polly turns cruel, he writes, but flounders in the quieter scenes.
"this revival is under-directed by John Benjamin Hickey, which leaves the actors feeling unmoored."
His standout is Keery, grounded and memorable in one of the less showy roles.
Slant Magazine
"'Other Desert Cities' Review: Talking in Circles in Palm Springs"
Reviewer: Dan Rubins
Rubins thinks Baitz pitches the stakes too high and too fast, and that the family’s divergent politics barely change how anyone behaves. He finds Janney’s Silda a delightful visitor from another show.
"only Keery blisters in channeling Trip’s long-festering frustration."
Trip, he argues, is the one character who credibly belongs to this family.
Theatrely
"A Starry, Thrilling OTHER DESERT CITIES Returns To Broadway"
Reviewer: Joey Sims
Sims enjoys the revival but reads it against the grain, seeing the Wyeths as a portrait of the apathy that led to today’s politics. He finds Louis-Dreyfus’s cruelty more sitcom-mean than heartless, and the final reveal confirming rather than complicating the parents’ obsession with appearances.
"a depressing kind of resonance, if perhaps not the kind its creators intended."
He doubts Hickey and Baitz see the ending his way.
Cititour
"Is It Worth Traveling to Other Desert Cities?"
Reviewer: Brian Scott Lipton
Lipton calls Rabe extraordinary and Keery outstanding and literally show-stopping, and says Louis-Dreyfus lands her lines with a tennis champion’s precision.
"now receiving a handsome yet unevenly cast revival at the Hudson Theater under John Benjamin Hickey’s slick direction"
He finds she lacks the dramatic weight for Polly’s thaw, and thinks the second-act revelations landed better in the original production.
New York Theater
"Other Desert Cities Broadway Review. Julia Louis-Dreyfus spars."
Reviewer: Jonathan Mandell
Mandell argues the star dominates the revival only because she is the reason top prices have passed $1,000, not because her performance towers over the others.
"This is not because her performance stands out; it doesn’t."
He calls the family secret implausible and admits that, 15 years on, he is still unsure what Baitz was trying to do.
Also reviewed by: The Wall Street Journal (Charles Isherwood, "‘Other Desert Cities’ Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Slashing Wit on Broadway"), whose review sits behind a paywall.
For more of what the New York critics have been saying, read our roundups for Midnight at the Daryl Roth Theatre and A Ghost in Your Ear at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre.
Other Desert Cities runs at the Hudson Theatre, 141 West 44th Street, through January 17, 2027. The running time is two hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission. Production photos by Emilio Madrid.
