OTHER DESERT CITIES

The new play by Jon Robin Baitz will surely transfer from Lincoln Center as soon as a Broadway theatre becomes available. A "thriller" based on the not-unfamiliar premise of an outwardly perfect family imploding when one of their number writes an unflattering tell-all biography, we very much enjoyed the stellar performances from Stockard Channing, Stacy Keach and Linda Lavin but found the piece a little unsatisfying. At first.

After coming home and reading the critics' opinions (very positive in the main) and audience comments in newspapers and on the net, we suspect that more people have taken the play on face value than perhaps the author intended. There is a startling second act twist and an epilogue which wraps up the story but as in all good thrillers we find we haven't been able to stop discussing the piece and uncovering hidden clues that we might have missed. Maybe we're reading too much into it but I think "Other Desert Cities" has more depth than audiences are currently giving it credit for.

On a nostalgic note, the first play I ever saw in the U.S. was the Los Angeles production of Jack Heifner's VANITIES starring Lucie Arnaz, Sandy Duncan and Stockard Channing. It was wonderful to see Ms. Channing still burning up the stage more than 35 years later.