Playwright: Jon Robin Baitz. At: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets: 773-975-8150 or www.goodmantheatre.org; $25-$86. Runs through: Feb. 17
It's easy to see why Other Desert Cities was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed plays of 2011. A Pulitzer finalist penned by out writer Jon Robin Baitz (Brothers and Sisters, Three Hotels), Other Desert Cities crackles with sarcastic comedy and heated conflict as a politically polarized family is threatened with being irreparably pulled apart.
Now playing at the Goodman Theatre in a superlative production, Other Desert Cities certainly draws in audiences and prods them to take sides. There are battles of parents versus children and sibling versus sibling, plus that complex blend of familial love, regret and disappointment that often rears its ugly head during the holidays.
Other Desert Cities is largely set in 2004 in Palm Springs, Calif., focusing on the staunch Republicans Lyman (a very distinguished Chelcie Ross) and Polly Wyeth (an appropriately acidic Deanna Dunagan). These Hollywood journeymen-turned-Republican political operatives are hoping for a nice Christmas holiday with their surviving grown children, the left-leaning novelist Brooke (a very emotionally adept Tracy Michelle Arnold) and reality TV producer Trip (a very funny and honest John Hooganakker). Also in the mix is Polly's sister, Silda Grauman (a comically zinging Linda Kimbrough), her former screenwriting collaborator who is in recovery from alcohol addiction.
But any semblance of harmony is shattered when Brooke announces that she's written a memoir that all but damns her parents' actions and political beliefs for driving her hippie brother to be a part of a Weather Underground-style attack in the 1970s and to commit suicide. Yet Brooke is also seeking her parents' blessing for the soon-to-be published book and for her version of the truth. Understandably, they're having none of it.
Baitz lays out his characters' arguments with clarity and insight, plus he also has fun drawing connections to prominent Republicans like Ronald and Nancy Reagan. While some audiences may find Baitz's turnaround revelation at the end a bit of a letdown, it does humanize his moneyed characters who could have been easily reduced to partisan stereotypes.
The Goodman cast, under the polished leadership of director Henry Wishcamper, all latch onto the complexity of their characters and the family dynamics to match Baitz's involving situations. They're all wonderfully framed by the luxuriously modern grand home set designed by Thomas Lynch, which has a lovely touch of the desert mountains nearly concealed by oversize shrubbery (clearly a symbol of how the Wyeths have something to hide from the outside world).
In Other Desert Cities, the personal Wyeth family struggle can also be seen to symbolize America's own conflicting political views of our own history and political polarization. This is what makes an already entertaining play into a powerful meditation calling for reconciliation and coming together.