Politics can be divisive. During the last presidential campaign, one couple was so diametrically opposed that their feud broke up their marriage. During the ‘60s, nothing caused more arguments among families than the Viet Nam war as young people and their more conservative parents often held opposing viewpoints.

The revival of Jon Robin Baitz’s play Other Desert Cities is set shortly after that tumultuous Viet Nam war era. Over the years, Polly (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Lyman Wyeth (Ed Harris) had cultivated political conservative relationships leading to Lyman, a former actor, becoming an ambassador. Yet after a family tragedy, they leave their lives in LA and sequester in Palm Springs in an upscale home. (Set design by Scott Trask.)

It is Christmas and a huge tree sits in the background. (A Jewish star set atop is in acknowledgement that Polly is Jewish. Except for a few jokes, her being Jewish adds little to the play.) The family gathers for the first time in six years. Daughter Brooke (wonderful Lily Rabe) lives on the East Coast and has been in a state of depression and inertia. She comes to share her memoir with her family, the first thing she has written in years. Although her parents are pleased to see her, they are understandably anxious about the book which has already found a publisher and an offer of a magazine preview.

When Brooke reveals that she has discussed her older brother Henry in her memoir, the family explodes. Henry, the oldest of the Wyeth’s three children, rebelled against his parents and their Republican friends over the Viet Nam war. He joined a protest group that ultimately bombed a recruitment center, killing a janitor. With help from her aunt Silda (Allison Janney) Brooke tells the story as she recalls it, including his suicide by jumping off a ferry off the coast of Seattle.

Will she publish the story and open up her famous family to scrutiny again? Although her father begs her to wait till after they have died to print the book, and her mother threatens to disown her, Brooke is conflicted. Younger brother Trip (Joe Keery ) is caught in the middle and resentful.

Directed by John Benjamin Hickey, Other Desert Cities is a star-studded production, guaranteed to fill the Hudson Theater with adoring fans. The actors do not disappoint. As Silda, Polly’s alcoholic sister, Allison Janney is quirky and sarcastic, delivering her supporting role with impeccable timing. Janney, wonderful in every role, is woefully underused.

As the patriarch Lyman, Ed Harris is strong and stalwart, with a calming presence. His is not a flashy role but he stopped the show when he demonstrated how effective he had been as a screen actor. In one of the best moments of the show, he performs a dying scene, grimacing and writhing till he falls to the floor. Lily Rabe, a regular on Broadway and the Public Theater, is always impressive. Passionate, moving and earnest, Rabe makes us care.

Using celebrities fills theater seats and even the autograph lines outside. In fact, after the show, I noticed young fans standing outside the theater, some even holding Playbills from other shows, waiting to get Keery’s autograph. Keery who plays Steve Harrington on TV’s “Strangers Things” is good in his Broadway debut, especially in the company of the seasoned actors onstage.

However, many in the audience were there to see Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Veep) make her Broadway debut. Most of Louis-Dreyfus’s shows have been comedic and light-hearted, and her movies sentimental. Baitz’s show requires that she demonstrate some dramatic chops. She does fine, especially when she gets into heated arguments with her daughter and her sister. What was distracting was the audience's need to laugh, often at her lines that weren’t particularly funny, detracting from her ruthlessness as a tough-love mother.

The performances are good but the play is uneven. It feels dated, especially when Polly and Lyman refer to their political friends. Polly quotes her friend Nancy and the advice she gave her. (Reagan-I assume) Many of the names and references will be lost on a younger audience.

Revived for the first time since 2011, this production resonates with some universal themes. The parent -child relationships and sibling interactions will feel familiar. So too are the politics, though the decades have changed so much has stayed the same.