Video: Meet the Company of THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
Sep 17, 2024
In this video, watch as the entire cast and creative team of The Hills of California chats more about what audiences can expect.
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It's not even, excitement doesn't cover it
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I'm off the chart. I'm off the charts. It's amazing. It's unbelievable
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It just doesn't feel real. Like it doesn't feel like it's happening. Like it's just such a surreal feeling, can't wait
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Following a critically acclaimed sold-out run in London
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Jess Butterworth's new play, The Hills of California, which is directed by Sam Mendez
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is coming to Broadway. It begins performances on September 11th, and we caught up with a company right before they began. rehearsals
0:31
When you first got the play, what made you say, yeah, I want to do this? Well, it has got to a point where if Jez wrote a version of the phone book, I'd probably say
0:39
okay, I'll do that, because, you know, he's one of the two or three greatest playwrights
0:43
alive, I think. But it was immediately obvious, two things. One was that he was stretching the limits theatrically for him
0:54
He, until now, all his plays have taken place in one location, one time period
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And suddenly he was writing two-time periods. And also he was stretching in other ways
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There was music in this play. There was dancing in this way. There was a sort of level of theatricality
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that was really exciting for those who followed his work. And so immediately I thought, I love that
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I also loved where he had set it. I love, you know, those who don't know Blackpool
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imagine Atlantic City with a lot of vaudeville theatres in about the mid-70s and you get the idea, you know
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And back in, he split it between the mid-70s, I remember in my childhood and the mid-50s, a time when Black Ball was thriving and a time when it's beginning to die
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And I love that counterpoint And I also love the universal theme of dreams of showbiz you know Everyone understands dreams of escape It called Hills of California Spoiler alert it not said in California but it is about a dream of escaping to California
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And I think for all of us in England, and for many people here, Hollywood still remains a kind of mirage
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and oasis of possibility in the distance. And so in that regard, it felt
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even though it was very specific to those places, it felt very universal play. You know, so all of those things just made me want to do it
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Kind of from the first page onwards. I just thought it was magic
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So how do you describe the play? It is, it's just a, it's sister, brother, cousin of my other plays
2:31
It's, if you like them, you know, come along. It's big, it's, you know, it's three acts
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It's, you know, it takes place pretty much in one location, it takes place in one location, like all my plays
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you know, it's an old-fashioned kind of play-play. I'm from the 20th century, you know
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and I sort of, it's becoming, I was sort of out of fashion
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and then I'm sort of, it's now my unique selling point. Like, this is how I sound, this is what I do
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And I don't think it's going to really change. I like big stories that you sit there
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and three hours later you can't believe that you've been there all that time
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It's been in development, actually, since we opened it in London. And so whilst we loved what we did in London
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we're almost thinking of this as the version that Jez and Sam and the company and myself always wanted to do
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But we opened it cold in the West End. Very rarely rare to do that with a new work And it was only as the play was developing and we saw it with an audience did Jess and Sam and us all think
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okay, we're on a journey with this play. And Broadway was beckoning us, and here we are
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And so we haven't stopped working. Jez has done a big rewrite
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So it's very exciting. So it feels like, it doesn't feel like a transfer
4:00
like I often do. It does feel like we're opening a new piece
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play on Broadway? I mean, it's a very easy decision whenever Jess Butterworth says he has
4:08
a new play. It's just like, yes, and you don't even need to tell me about it, I will do it
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But then, as it went on, and he kind of described what he wanted
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to do with it, and then as we got in workshops and developed it, it
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just became clear to me that it was going to be a kind of challenge that I have never
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had before, particularly playing two different roles, and the opportunity there to be able to create two that
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are so distinct from each other is a more is a really fascinating they kind of have to be in conversation
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with each other and so that's a really fascinating thing to develop it's very very different
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it turns out to developing one character and not something I've ever done
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before so yeah it's great it's an extraordinary play it feels so
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universal the themes that Jez has managed to describe and yet it's set in a very
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specific time and place however the themes are universal and he's got such a
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a beautiful handle on character and having these four robust female roles, I'd never, ever read a play
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where the four female roles were so powerful and diverse and had, there's loads to get your teeth into
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It was a very easy, yes. I was saying to jazz, so when I was a kid my granddad was a club singer in Blackpool where the play is set And he used to do the seasons and he used to finish his set with New York New York And when we found out we were common I just couldn believe it
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She's getting emotional. So I just felt like it was my dream come true, my granddad's dream come true, a family dream come true
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It's a really big deal. Beyond excited. It's a dream come true
5:50
It really, really is. Yeah, it's just, I mean, the West End run was amazing
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but to come here is really, I saw Sutton Foster in anything goes on Broadway when I was about 12 and
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ding! So it's really just amazing to be here and the community already have been so supportive and kind
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I mean, I can't even put it into words. I'm so, so excited and to be able to share this experience with everyone here as well, it's just incredible
6:14
Yeah, I think even hearing you say the words Broadway debut just sent like a whole shiver at my smile
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So yeah, incredibly excited, but it feels so surreal as well because I think as to you younger
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I'm from Dublin and you were from London. So I think getting to be here in New York
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with such a beautiful, meaningful play that we love so much. And a Broadway debut is such a surreal thing
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that so many people dream of and we're about to do it, which is crazy. What's it like being back in rehearsal again
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with the play for Broadway? It's so amazing. I feel like we're so lucky to be able to do that
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because we can take what we've learned throughout the run and like doing it eight times a week
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We know the characters so well. But also we've had a break, so we're able to kind of look at it objectively and find new things
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And yeah, it's really, really incredible. It just feels very fresh, like having a break in between and coming back
7:04
like being in the room with everyone again and meeting new people. It was just so lovely that first day
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And again, like finding new things out about your characters that you didn't know before
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like after it for six months. Yeah, it was lovely being back again
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