“The Hills of California”, by Jez Butterworth. Directed by Loretta Greco. Presented by The Huntington in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Huntington, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston, through October 12.
By Michele Markarian
Full disclosure: I love Jez Butterworth’s writing – psychological without being heavy-handed. I saw Jerusalem with Mark Rylance in 2011; it was magnificent, as was The Ferryman. The Hills of California is no exception – it is a remarkable and moving work that skillfully weaves the lives of four sisters and their mother through their shaky past and fractured present and makes them whole again.
Veronica (Allison Jean White) is dying. Jillian (Karen Killeen), the youngest of her daughters, who lives with her in the family home in Blackpool, England, is on hand to greet her sisters, Ruby (Aimee Doherty) and Gloria (Amanda Kristin Nichols), who have come with their husbands to bid farewell to their mother. Missing is the eldest sister, Joan (also Allison Jean White), who has been living in Los Angeles and out of touch with the family for years; allegedly, she’s on her way, but her flight was cancelled. Jillian insists that Veronica won’t die until she sees Joan – her purported favorite – but the sisters, Gloria in particular, don’t believe she has any intention of making it back.
Flashbacks from the past reveal that Veronica’s dream for her daughters is a singing career, a la the Andrews Sisters. Veronica and the girls are well-versed in all of the details of the Andrews’ life. When Perry Como’s agent, Luther St. John (Lewis D. Wheeler), is brought to the house by Jack Larkin, a wayward boarder (Kyle Cameron), Veronica and the girls are eager to impress. Veronica even tells him, while Gloria overhears, that she’s willing to drop Gloria and make the girls a trio, like Maxine, Patty, and LaVerne Andrews. St. John points out that it’s 1955, Elvis is in, and the Andrews Sisters are passe, but he is interested in exploring more the talents of fifteen-year-old Joan (Kate Fitzgerald). When he leads Joan – or Joan leads him – upstairs to sing for him in private and Veronica doesn’t stop it, the course of the family’s fate is forever altered.
The flashback scenes serve to deconstruct the resentments of the present. While the younger girls worship their eldest sister, her estrangement from the family at fifteen leaves them to fill the years with mythical imaginings of her life in California. Is she famous? Married? Turns out she did make a lone album and did, finally, meet the Andrews sisters. Gloria’s resentment of Joan as the talented, loved one only dissipates when she meets the present Joan and understands what she’s sacrificed.
It’s a beautifully drawn portrait of family dynamics, aided by Greco’s finely tuned direction and excellent cast, despite some shaky accent work. Standouts from this outstanding ensemble are Nichols, whose Gloria is a tight coil of anger and resentment; she has a magnetism that draws you in whenever she’s onstage. Doherty provides lighter energy and a few laughs, especially when she’s talking about her husband, Dennis (Kyle Cameron). Cameron is hilarious as Jack, the flashback’s home’s wayward boarder, telling stupid jokes that are quite funny (“My brother’s got five cocks. His underpants fit him like a glove” is an example). All of the sisters, past and present, sing and harmonize beautifully.
White, double cast as Veronica and Joan, is superb. Her Veronica is crisp, proper, and steely; she is a woman with her eye on the prize, which she’s reluctant to let go of. She plays the older Joan almost as a chimera, floating through the house as if in a dream. White inhabits both roles so convincingly that when she came out for the curtain call dressed as Joan, the woman behind me said to her husband, “Where’s Veronica?”
Se Hyun Oh’s stupendous set design is almost its own character, getting applause at first sight and cleverly designed to accommodate the home both past and present. The staircase to Veronica’s sickroom is absurdly long, reflecting the distance between the girls and their mother and the effort they must make to reach her. For anyone who’s ever had a family member whose approval they seek, or bore the burden of someone else’s expectations, or just wants to be entertained by another family’s dysfunction, this is a show not to be missed.
For more information and tickets, go to: https://www.huntingtontheatre.org/
