The Hills of California on Broadway Tickets

By: Jez Butterworth
Director: Sam Mendes
Choreography: Ellen Kane
Cast list: 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), Nicola Turner (as Young Jill)
Sets: Rob Howell
Costumes: Rob Howell
Lighting: Natasha Chivers
Sound: Nick Powell
Other info: Original music and arrangements by Nick Powell, musical supervision and arrangements by Candida Caldicot

The Hills of California traces the lives of four Webb sisters from the 1950s to 1970s, at which point audiences meet them for a sweltering reunion one summer at their childhood home in a seaside English town. Sisters Ruby and Gloria now both have families of their own, and Jill never left the homestead. Joan, however, has not been heard from in decades, but Jill swears their mother’s favorite will surprise them this time and finally show up.

Returning to their childhood home — haunted by old memories of passion, financial stress, and living with a single mother — unearths different feelings and resentments from each sister, especially because it was during that indelible 1950s period that the girls could almost taste fame. Each night, the sisters would practice their singing routine, and when a record producer arrived to offer a chance at glory, the sisters’ lives were forever redrawn. A gorgeous, sweeping story about the romance between sisters, The Hills of California is an epic tale and an utterly moving portrait of family.

What to watch for

• Sam Mendes is known for his collaborations with Jez Butterworth, but he is also a Broadway vet unto himself, staging a revival of Gypsy; he's also an Oscar winner, known for his hit films 1917 and American Beauty.
• The Hills of California was met with critical acclaim in London; in a five-star review, London Times wrote that Butterworth and Mendes “have developed a slick production in which not a word, not even a breath, is wasted.”
• Butterworth is known for his rich tales of family that interconnect characters across the years; The Ferryman was similarly enormous in scope in its tackling of a fractured family during The Troubles.
• While The Hills of California is certainly a play, audiences, like with Stereophonic, can expect original music woven throughout as the sisters build their act.