Jez Butterworth’s new play The Hills of California, directed by Sam Mendes is set to make its New York premiere next week! iHeartRadio Broadway got to chat with the cast and the creative team!
The cast will feature the play’s acclaimed leading London cast members on the Broadway stage – Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee Laura Donnelly as Joan/Veronica; Leanne Best as Gloria; Ophelia Lovibond as Ruby; Helena Wilson as Jill; Nancy Allsop as Young Gloria; Sophia Ally as Young Ruby; Lara McDonnell as Young Joan; and Nicola Turner as Young Jill. The full Broadway company will also include Bryan Dick, Richard Short, David Wilson Barnes, Richard Lumsden, Ta’Rea Campbell, Sawyer Barth, Ellyn Heald, Cameron Scoggins, and Max Roll. The company understudies are Erin Rose Doyle, Sadie Veach, Liz Pearce, Jessica Baglow, Liam Bixby, and Q. Smith.
The Hills of California will begin previews Wednesday, September 11 ahead of a Sunday, September 29, 2024 opening night at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 W. 44th Street) in a limited engagement. Tickets are now on sale at Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200. The Broadhurst Theatre Box Office will open for in-person sales on Wednesday, August 14 at 10am.
The Hills of California marks Tony and Olivier Award winner Butterworth’s newest play since the multi-award winning The Ferryman, also directed by Oscar, Tony, and Olivier Award winner Mendes. In June the production concluded its limited engagement at the Harold Pinter Theatre on the West End, where it received 2024 Best New Play and Best Leading Actress in a Play (Laura Donnelly) Olivier Award nominations. Following their triumphant production of The Ferryman, Tony®-winning Playwright Jez Butterworth and Oscar and Tony-winning Director Sam Mendes reunite for The Hills of California.
In the sweltering heat of a 1970s summer, the Webb sisters return to their childhood home in Blackpool, an English seaside town, where their mother Veronica lies dying upstairs. Gloria and Ruby now have families of their own. Jill never left. And Joan? No one’s heard from her in twenty years… but Jill insists that their mother’s favorite won’t let them down this time. The run-down Sea View Guest House is haunted by bittersweet memories of amusement park rides and overdue bills. Back in the 1950s, each night the four young sisters rehearse their singing act, managed by their fiercely loving single mom. But when a record producer offers a shot at fame and a chance to escape, it will cost them all dearly. With stunning design and glorious music, The Hillsof California is “a rich, funny, brilliantly layered drama.” (Financial Times).
The full creative team for The Hills of California includes Rob Howell (designer), Natasha Chivers (lighting design), Nick Powell(composer, sound design and arrangements), Ellen Kane (choreography), Campbell Young Associates (wigs, hair & makeup design), Candida Caldicot (musical supervision and arrangements), Kate Wilson (dialect coach), Amy Ball (UK casting director, Verity Naughton (UK young persons’ casting director), Jim Carnahan CSA, JV Mercanti (US casting director), Zoé Ford Burnett(UK associate director), Joan Sergay (US associate director), Gemma Fuller (UK associate choreographer), Sara Brians (US associate choreographer), Charles M. Turner III (production stage manager), Ashley-Rose Galligan (stage manager), and Imani Champion (stage manager).