The Balusters Is Keeping Broadway on Edge
The cast breaks down the shocking tonal shifts in David Lindsay-Abaire’s buzzy new satire on opening night
What to Know
- David Lindsay-Abaire’s new Broadway play The Balusters opens at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, delivering a sharp, timely HOA satire directed by Kenny Leon
- Star-studded cast including Anika Noni Rose, Kayli Carter and Maria-Christina Oliveras highlights the show’s shifting perspectives, with characters that make audiences constantly rethink who they support
- Audience reactions are highly interactive and unpredictable, with laughter and silence underscoring the play’s nuanced take on conflict, community and good intentions gone wrong
David Lindsay-Abaire’s HOA satire The Balusters has opened on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre—not to be confused with your local landmark district. Broadway.com hit the red carpet to chat with the stars and creative team about the new play.
Anika Noni Rose plays Kyra Marshall, the opinionated neighborhood newcomer. “There are so many different points of view on stage that the audience will find themselves rooting for different people throughout the play,” says Rose. “You might start being like, ‘This is my person. I get that. This is me.’ Then by the middle of the play, you’re thinking, ‘Oh, but this person over here...’”
The audience can get very participatory, says Broadway newcomer Kayli Carter, who plays Willow Gibbons. “People have been talking back at us,” she says. “People have been voting. People have been, some nights, so uproariously laughing, and then it will get silent.” She credits the shift in response to the amount of nuance Lindsay-Abaire has infused in his characters.
Maria-Christina Oliveras plays Luz, Kyra's housekeeper, who is privy to the goings-on of each meeting. Playing someone so observant has allowed Oliveras to reflect on the takeaway of the play itself. “I think it’s a microcosm of the world that we’re living in; offering up the messiness of well-intentioned people misstepping,” she says. “We all, I’d like to think, have the best of intentions, and we’re all misstepping left and right. How do we move forward with that?”
Director Kenny Leon borrows from his friend, the late August Wilson (huge flex): “When you’ve got love in one hand, and laughter in the other, it doesn’t get much better than that.” Leon believes that summarizes The Balusters to a tee. “The fact that I can love and laugh in the same evening of theater? Doesn’t get much better.”
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