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 girls 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.
Butterworth writes sprawling, talky epics with ensembles in the double digits, three-hour run times, and lots of room for showy speeches. He’s fascinated by the death of dreams and the past that haunts us, the slow decay of England. Hills is not essentially different, thought it does focus on women. Men in this world—save one—are feckless husband-enablers and punching bags for Veronica and her mostly unhappy grown daughters. The one man who makes a definitive impact on the Webb household is the Yank talent scout, Luther, played by New York stage veteran David Wilson Barnes. Seeming at first a dryly reserved finder of genius (he claims to have discovered Nat King Cole), Luther reveals darker motives by requesting a private audition with 15-year-old Joan (Lara McDonnell) in “Mississippi” (Seaview’s rooms are named after American states). What makes the offstage encounter between Luther and Joan more disturbing is the suggestion that the girl initiates it—a tragic escape from her suffocating surroundings.
The best way to enjoy The Hills of California – not that it takes any real effort to do so – is to take it as a long yarn that unfolds across its own soapy, extended timeline. Jez Butterworth’s latest play, directed by Sam Mendes and imported from a London run earlier this year, is never less than compelling, well-executed and performed. But the slightness of its core that’s far from insurmountable, but can incur a modest wince once revealed, about two-thirds of the way into its two-hour-forty-five runtime.
| 2024 | West End |
West End |
| 2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play | Laura Donnelly |
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play | Rob Howell |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Rob Howell |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Sam Mendes |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play | Laura Donnelly |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design | Natasha Chivers |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | The Hills of California |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design | Rob Howell |
| 2025 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Rob Howell |
| 2025 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Sam Mendes |
| 2025 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Natasha Chivers |
| 2025 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Laura Donnelly |
| 2025 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Rob Howell |
| 2025 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Nick Powell |
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