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Rachel Griffiths, most recently of ABC’s just-canceled Brothers and Sisters, will make her Broadway debut this fall in the Jon Robin Baitz drama Other Desert Cities. The Australian actress will be stepping into a role first created by stage vet Elizabeth Marvel in an Off Broadway production of the show at Lincoln Center Theatre earlier this year. Griffiths will play Brooke Wyeth, the daughter of a once-prominent Republican bigwig who returns to her parents’ home in Palm Springs for the holidays with news of a planned tell-all memoir about the family. Awkward silences, loud outbursts, and shocking revelations naturally ensue.
Judith Light, the Who’s the Boss? star who appeared on Broadway last season in Lombardi, will also be joining the cast as Brooke’s acerbic aunt. Linda Lavin, who originated the role, has committed to another Off Broadway production this fall, Nicky Silver’s new comedy The Lyons. The rest of director Joe Mantello’s original cast remains intact: Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach as Brooke’s parents and Thomas Sadowski as her TV-producer brother. Previews are slated to begin at the Booth Theatre on Oct. 12, with opening night set for Nov. 3.
Didn’t get a chance to see it Off-Broadway but hoped the cast would remain intact for Broadway. But Rachel Griffiths and Judith Light are both fine substitutes.