THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA, Directed by Sam Mendes, Will Open on Broadway

A new Jez Butterworth is Broadway-bound! BroadwayWorld has just learned that Butterworth’s new play The Hills of California, directed by Sam Mendes, will open on Broadway for a limited engagement at the Broadhurst Theatre this fall.

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.

The production is currently playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre on the West End, where it will conclude its limited engagement on Saturday, June 15. Read the reviews here.

Broadway casting for The Hills of California will be announced at a later date.

Fans can register now for first access to tickets. Sign up at thehillsofcalifornia.com

About The Hills of California 

“What is a song? A song is a dream... a place to be. Somewhere you can live.  And in that place, there are no walls. No boundaries. No locks. No keys. You can go anywhere...” 

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. 

The creative team for The Hills of California includes Rob Howell (scenic and costume design), Natasha Chivers (lighting design), Nick Powell (composer, sound design and arrangements), Ellen Kane (choreography), Candida Caldicot (musical supervision and arrangements), Amy Ball (UK casting director, Verity Naughton (UK young persons’ casting director), Jim Carnahan CSA, JV Mercanti (US casting director) and Zoé Ford Burnett (associate director). 

Biographies

Jez Butterworth was born in London, in 1969 and studied English at St. Johns College, Cambridge. His first play, Mojo (Royal Court Theatre, 1995), won seven major awards, including the Olivier Award for Best Comedy. Other plays include The Night Heron (2002), The Winterling, (2006), Parlour Song (2008), Jerusalem (2009), The River (2012), and The Ferryman (2017). Jerusalem transferred from the Royal Court to the West End, breaking box office records for a new play. It won Best Play at the Evening Standard Awards 2010, The UK Critic’s Circle Award for Best Play 2010, before travelling to Broadway where it won Best Foreign Play at the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards 2011. It received six Tony nominations, winning two, including Best Actor for Mark Rylance. The River transferred to Broadway in 2014, starring Hugh Jackman. His sixth play for the Royal Court, The Ferryman, directed by Sam Mendes, was extended during its transfer to the West End. It received 15 five-star reviews in the UK daily press and won Best Play and Best Director at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2017, the Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and 3 Olivier Awards for Best Play, Best Director and Best Actress in 2018. In 2018 The Ferryman transferred to Broadway and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning four including the award for Best Play 2019. His latest play The Hills of California began its West End run in February 2024. Directed by Sam Mendes it stars Laura Donnelly, Leanne Best, Ophelia Lovibond and Helena Wilson. Jez’s screenwriting credits include Fair Game (2010) directed by Doug Liman and starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, Get On Up (2014) directed by Tate Taylor and starring Chadwick Boseman and Octavia Spencer, Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Black Mass (2015) directed by Scott Cooper and starring Johnny Depp and Dakota Johnson, Spectre(2015) directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig and Naomie Harris, Ford v Ferrari (2019) directed by James Mangold and starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) directed by James Mangold and starring Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. For TV Jez has created and written the comedy series “Mammals” for Amazon Studios starring James Corden, Sally Hawkins, Melia Kreiling and Colin Morgan. Jez also created the historical fantasy drama “Britannia” which was the first co-production between Sky and Amazon Prime. It stars David Morrissey, Zoe Wanamaker and Mackenzie Crook and ran for three seasons. In 2007, Jez won the E.M Forster award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2019 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Sam Mendes founded and ran The Donmar Warehouse in London for ten years. He was a founding director of Neal Street Productions. He is an Honorary Fellow of the National Film and Television School, and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was made a CBE in 2000 and knighted in 2020 for services to drama. Recent work includes The Motive and the Cue at The National Theatre, transferring to the West End in December 2023, The Lehman Trilogy and The Ferryman, both productions playing on Broadway and in the West End. Other theatre includesUncle Vanya, Twelfth Night, To The Green Fields Beyond, The Blue Room, Habeas Corpus, Company, The Glass Menagerie, Glengarry Glen Ross, Translations, Cabaret, Assassins (Donmar Warehouse); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Oliver!, Kean, London Assurance (West End);Richard III, As You Like It, The Tempest, The Cherry Orchard, The Winter’s Tale (Bridge Project, BAM, Old Vic, Neal Street); The Vertical Hour, Gypsy, The Blue Room, Cabaret (Broadway); King Lear, Othello, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Birthday Party, The Sea (National); The Alchemist, The Tempest, Richard III, Troilus and Cressida (RSC). Film includes American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, Skyfall, Spectre, 1917, and Empire of Light. Awards include the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture, five BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Directors Guild of America Awards, the PGA award, five Olivier Awards, the Olivier Special Award, six Tony Awards, four Evening Standard Awards, the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize and the Directors Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement.