Jez Butterworth's new play The Hills of California officially opened September 29 at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre, and though its origins may be in England, the production's team say American audiences can find familiarity in its themes.
Set in a swelteringly hot 1970s summer, the piece sees the Webb sisters returning to their childhood home in the English seaside town of Blackpool. One sister hasn't been heard from in two decades, but her siblings hope that with their mother close to death upstairs that she might reappear after all. The play also flashes back to the 1950s when the girls were children, when their mother had dreams of them becoming a singing group like the Andrews Sisters. Read the reviews here.
The play-with-music previously played an Olivier-nominated run in London. Sam Mendes, who staged the West End bow, crossed the pond with the production. For Mendes, the themes of The Hills of California are uniquely suited to Broadway audiences.
"I think American audiences understand dreams of showbiz very, very well," Mendes says. "We in England are brought up on an image of America as the sort of holy grail, you know, Hollywood, Broadway. And I think that that pull exists all across people here...This play is about people who have that as a dream, and who want to escape the boredom of their surroundings. And one of them escapes and the others don't. To me, I think that's going to be understood very well in this country."
A number of the original West End company are reprising their performances on Broadway, including Olivier winner and Tony nominee Laura Donnelly as mother Joan and sister Veronica, Leanne Best as Gloria, Ophelia Lovibond as Ruby, Helena Wilson as Jill, Nancy Allsop as Patty and Young Gloria, Sophia Ally as Young Ruby, Lara McDonnell as Young Joan, and Nicola Turner as Young Jill.
McDonnell, who is just 21, says she found connection between the aspirations of her character and her journey with the production. "The play is set in Blackpool, which I don't think many American people would know about," she explains. "Getting to witness the difference between that and...the American dream of this glistening new world that so many people who aren't from the U.S. have, [that] it's this place of dreams and success—and particularly for the creative industry, where you get to be yourself and do these amazing creative adventures." She also added that as a young actor, "getting to go from the beautiful West End to Broadway is very similar to the stories that our young girls have, and the dreams that the young girls have."
According to Donnelly, the location where The Hills of California is performed is inconsequential: "I think that the reason that this play connects to an audience, frankly anywhere in the world, is because of what Jez Butterworth does best, which is to create a very, very specific setting in a very specific time and place, but absolutely universal themes," Donnelly says. "The themes of this play are to do with family, and memory, and this the connections we have with one another, and the stories that we tell ourselves in order to be able to exist in our world and within that family, and the roles that we play in that family. That's something that anybody can absolutely look at and fix their own experience to, and I think that is what he does best in all of his plays."
Best also emphasizes the piece's universality. "There's always a place, I think, where we live as grown ups, where we will forever be the age we were when [something] happened to us that broke our heart," she says. "I think that a lot of us spend a lot of time, and energy and effort, consciously or unconsciously, living the rest of our lives with a bit of a broken heart. I really hope that [audiences] find a space in the play where they can maybe think about their own family, or their own relationships, and space where they can take two steps closer together, as opposed to two steps further away. They can acknowledge a little bit of a broken heart, and let it go."
The Hills of California plays a limited engagement until December 22. See the cast and creatives meet the press in the gallery below.
Sam Mendes and Jez Butterworth
Darren Edward Johnston, Megan O'Keefe, Christine Schwarzman, Sam Mendes, Sonya Friedman, Jez Butterworth, Brian Spector, and Michael Shulman
Lara McDonnell, Nicola Turner, Sophia Ally, and Nancy Allsop
Helena Wilson, Laura Donnelly, Ophelia Lovibond, and Leanne Best
Laura Donnelly, Lara McDonnell, Helena Wilson, Nicola Turner, Ophelia Lovibond, Sophia Ally, Nancy Allsop, and Leanne Best
Company of The Hills of California
Jez Butterworth, Sam Mendes, and company of The Hills of California
The full cast includes Bryan Dick as Jack Larkin, Richard Short as Bill, David Wilson Barnes as Luther St. John, Richard Lumsden as Mr. Potts, Ta'Rea Campbell as Penny, Liam Bixby as Tony, Ellyn Heald as Mrs. Smith, Cameron Scoggins as Dr. Rose, and Max Roll as Mr. Smith. Understudies Sawyer Barth, Erin Rose Doyle, Sadie Veach, Liz Pearce, Jessica Baglow, and Q. Smith round out the company.
The London production's creative team reprise their work on Broadway, including scenic and costume designer Rob Howell, lighting designer Natasha Chivers, composer and sound designer Nick Powell, choreographer Ellen Kane, and music supervisor Candida Caldicot. Powell and Caldicot also serve as arrangers. U.K. casting is by Amy Ball, U.K. young persons' casting is by Verity Naughton, and U.S. casting is by Jim Carnahan and JV Mercanti.
The producing team is led by Sonia Friedman Productions, No Guarantees Productions, Neal Street, Brian Spector, and Sand & Snow Entertainment, in association with Manhattan Theatre Club.
Visit TheHillsofCalifornia.com.
