Lily Rabe is heading back to Broadway this fall in a new production of Jon Robin Baitz’s 2011 play “Other Desert Cities,” joining a cast that includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Allison Janney and Joe Keery. Performances begin Sept. 29 at the Hudson Theatre, with an official opening set for Oct. 18.
The play, directed by John Benjamin Hickey, follows the Wyeths, a politically conservative family in Palm Springs, California, whose lives are upended when a daughter’s memoir exposes long-hidden secrets. Rabe plays Brooke, the troubled writer at the center of that upheaval, with Louis-Dreyfus and Harris playing her parents, Janney her aunt and Keery her brother.
Rabe, 44, had her first read-through with the cast on Aug. 25. She had already worked with Harris before, but the revival marks her first time acting alongside the rest of the ensemble. “I’m in love with all of them,” she said.
She and Louis-Dreyfus crossed paths earlier this year at the Tony Awards in June, where they presented the Best Play award together. “I’ll watch her in anything. I wish she were our president,” Rabe said, referencing Louis-Dreyfus’ turn as a fictional vice president and president on “Veep.” “Although I’m glad she’s not, because I wouldn’t be able to do this play with her.”
The production caps a busy stretch for Rabe. On Aug. 23, she wrapped a run opposite Raúl Esparza in “The Winter’s Tale,” her fifth appearance in the Public Theater’s free Shakespeare in the Park series at the Delacorte Theater in Manhattan. It had been 11 years since her last turn there, and 14 years since her last Broadway show, “Seminar.” At the opening night party for “The Winter’s Tale,” her longtime partner, actor Hamish Linklater, handed her a note that read: “Happy homecoming.”
A Return to New York
Rabe was born in New York City before her family moved to Westchester and then Connecticut. After 12 years split between Los Angeles and the East Coast, she has now moved back to Manhattan full time with Linklater and their four children, ages 4, 6, 9 and 19.
“It’s my favorite city in the world,” she said. “I’m close to the theater again, whether that means doing plays or going to see them.”
Rabe met Linklater in 2006 through her mother, the late Oscar-nominated actress Jill Clayburgh, who died in November 2010. Rabe’s father is the 86-year-old Tony-winning playwright David Rabe. She has spoken about her mother’s influence, describing her as “an incredible mother” who was “always leaning in and leaning forward” and had “no regrets.”
Rabe made her professional debut alongside her mother in 2001 on screen and in 2002 on stage. She went on to appear in three Broadway shows between 2005 and 2009, including her debut as Annelle in “Steel Magnolias.” In 2010, she played Portia opposite Al Pacino in “The Merchant of Venice,” a role that began in Central Park before transferring to Broadway and earned her a Tony nomination for Best Actress. Linklater played her love interest in that production as well.
Since then, Rabe has built a career spanning stage, film and television, including multiple seasons of Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story,” in which she played roles ranging from a witch to aviator Amelia Earhart. “It was a tremendous gift in my life,” she said of the show. “The thing that I loved most about it is that it was like being in a repertory company.”
Her most recent film is “Capsized,” a comedy drama co-starring Rhys Ifans about a dysfunctional family. In 2023, she co-directed “Downtown Owl,” a comedy set in a fictional North Dakota town, which also starred Harris.
Reflecting on “Other Desert Cities” and its themes of family secrets, Rabe said the story resonates with her. “Often the greatest mysteries of our life are from what’s closest to us — and that’s our families,” she said. “I find that to be a harrowing idea. And compelling. And exhilarating.”
