Linda Vista on Broadway Tickets

By: Tracy Letts
Director: Dexter Bullard
Producer: Second Stage Theater in association with Center Theatre Group
Cast list: Ian Barford (as Wheeler), Sally Murphy (as Margaret), Caroline Neff (as Anita), Chantal Thuy (as Minnie), Jim True-Frost (as Paul), Cora Vander Broek (as Jules), and Troy West (as Michael)
Design: Todd Rosenthal
Lighting: Marcus Doshi
Costume: Laura Bauer
Sound: Richard Woodbury

Fresh off his run starring in last season’s revival of “All My Sons,” Tracy Letts returns to Broadway — offstage this time around. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and star of stage and screen brings the midlife crisis-comedy “Linda Vista” to Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater for a limited engagement this fall. The production comes with a “this play contains adult situations and nudity” warning, which, whether or not you’re familiar with Letts’ work, bodes well.

The brutal comedy was produced previously by Steppenwolf in Chicago in 2016 and then later in Los Angeles. It now arrives in New York via a co-production from Second Stage Theater and Center Theatre Group, and “might just be Mr. Letts’ best play yet,” according to a review of an earlier production by the Wall Street Journal. Directed by Dexter Bullard, the show features an ensemble including Ian Barford, Sally Murphy, Caroline Neff, Chantal Thuy, Jim True-Frost, Cora Vander Broek, and Troy West.

Recommended for ages 16+. Contains adult situations and nudity.

What to watch for

This will be a family affair for playwright Tracy Letts, who has longstanding relationships with two of the entities presenting “Linda Vista.” Having cut his teeth in the Chicago theater world, he (along with his wife, actor Carrie Coon) is now a member of the prestigious Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble, which first produced the piece. He has also worked closely with Second Stage, which produced his last New York production, “Mary Page Marlowe.”

Tracy Letts is a busy man. In addition to “Linda Vista,” the prolific playwright will have another show produced on Broadway this season. His play “The Minutes” (which also previously bowed at Steppenwolf in Chicago) will begin performances this coming spring, under the direction of Anna D. Shapiro.

Nearly the entire company has been with this play since its original Chicago run in 2017. In fact, the only actors new to the company this time around are Jim True-Frost and Chantal Thuy.

Directly translated, “linda vista” means “nice view” in Spanish. However, audiences of the play “Linda Vista” will quickly see the irony, as it is also the name of our protagonist’s apartment complex. As you can guess based on the fact he is a fresh-off-the-couch divorcé, that complex is not in fact encompassed by a linda vista.