Other Desert Cities: Off-Broadway tops Broadway

Playwright Jon Robin Baitz's has cancelled the planned Broadway premiere of his new play Other Desert Cities (formerly called Love and Mercy), which would have marked the playwright's Broadway debut, preferring instead to premiere his work Off-Broadway.

Other Desert Cities, to be directed by Joe Mantello, had been planned for a Broadway outing during the 2010 - 2011 season, but will now premiere Off-Broadway at the Loncoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, where it will open on 13 Jan 2010, following previews from 16 Dec 2010.

The playwright said of his decision, "I'm very comfortable there at Lincoln Center, and I don't know much else. It felt like one less pressure to put on myself, instead of trying to work in a very specific arena which seems to be dictated by the presence of stars. I wasn't sure if that was an added pressure that I wanted."

In a telephone interview with the New York Times Baitz' said he felt the pressure of writing for 'big stars,' in Los Angeles, where he created the TV series "Brothers and Sisters", and that, "getting away from the West Coast pressure of show business, I didn't want to be indentured to that again."

Baitz's went on to say "I suppose one day maybe I'll get courageous and go for Broadway, though who knows."

The 299 seat Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater has been home to three of of Baitz's previous works 'Substance of Fire,' 'A Fair Country,' and 'Ten Unknowns.

Broadway producer Jeffrey Richards, who had been one of the leading producers for the Broadway premiere of Other Desert Cities, said the decision to cancel the Broadway production had been the playwright's preference, and one that he supported.

Other Desert Cities takes place over the course of a Christmas Eve in Palm Springs, and centers on a one-time matinee idol-turned-politician, his screenwriter wife and their novelist daughter.