Review: Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes reunite in exquisite ‘The Hills of California’ on Broadway

The most terrifying scene on a Broadway stage at the moment occurs with complete civility. In the second act of Jez Butterworth’s “The Hills of California,” now at the Broadhurst Theatre in a magnificent production directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes, Luther St. John, an American music producer and talent spotter, has arrived at the tacky Seaview hotel in Blackpool, England. Joan, as feisty as her mother, proposes that she sing a hit by one of Luther’s discoveries, Nat King Cole: “When I Fall in Love.” Veronica worries about the appropriateness of the choice. David Wilson Barnes, left, Lara McDonnell and Laura Donnelly in “The Hills of California.” Hauntingly staged by Mendes, who won a Tony for his direction of Butterworth’s “The Ferryman,” “The Hills of California” switches between two time periods. There are characters that could be cut and scenes that could be shortened, but I continue to make retrospective discoveries about the psychology and morality of a contentious family drama that, in its tragicomic extremity and bold black humor, bears comparison with Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County.” Helena Wilson, left, Laura Donnelly and Ophelia Lovibond play sisters in “The Hills of California.” The production’s well-executed climax doesn’t dissolve ambiguity.