Meghan Carey, Kate Fitzgerald, Alison Jean White, Chloé Kolbenhyer, Nicole Mulready (on floor); photo by Liza Voll.
Presented by The Huntington in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Written by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco
Music direction by Daniel Rodriguez
September 12 – October 12, 2025
The Huntington Theater
264 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Critique by Kitty Drexel
Please note: Herbal cigarettes and smoke/haze are used in this production. You may want to take an antihistamine or wear a mask if you suffer from allergies.
This critique contains plot spoilers. Read at your own risk.
BOSTON — The Huntington’s production of The Hills of California, newly staged by Artistic Director Loretta Greco and currently running through October 12 at the Huntington Theater in Boston, is beautifully staged, beautifully sung, and beautifully acted. It is technically perfect. Unfortunately, playwright Jez Butterworth traumatizes his female characters while prioritizing their relationships with men instead of giving them backstories or personalities. He objectifies them as underage entertainment instead of as human entertainers. It’s too bad, because he is thisclose to letting them be real people.
Summary: Three out of four adult Webb sisters’ (Amanda Kristin Nichols as Gloria, Aimee Doherty as Ruby, Karen Killeen as Jillian) homecoming to the seaside guest house where they grew up. As girls (Kate Fitzgerald as Young Joan, Meghan Carey as Young Gloria, Chloé Kolbenheyer as Young Ruby, Nicole Mulready as Young Jillian), their fierce and ambitious mother Veronica (Allison Jean White) trained them for a singing career à la The Andrews Sisters. Now adults, the sisters must reconsider the choices their mother made, the nostalgic call of youthful harmonies, and the unbreakable bonds of family while they wait for their prodigal sister Joan to come home. Trigger warnings: Pedophilia, sexual coersion and abuse, forced abortion, eof-of-life care of an elder, alcoholism, alleged drug abuse, hackneyed playwriting. Continue reading
