{"id":90449,"date":"2022-03-29T10:21:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T04:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/sarah-jessica-parker-toils-while-matthew-broderick-coasts\/"},"modified":"2022-03-29T10:21:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T04:51:55","slug":"sarah-jessica-parker-toils-while-matthew-broderick-coasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/sarah-jessica-parker-toils-while-matthew-broderick-coasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Jessica Parker Toils While Matthew Broderick Coasts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It happened for No\u00ebl Coward. It\u2019s not happening for Neil Simon. Angry young playwrights like John Osborne momentarily retired Coward\u2019s oeuvre before the British playwright\u2019s mid-20th-century comedies returned to the stage more popular and meaningful than ever. <\/p>\n

But don\u2019t expect a similar resurgence for Simon, who died in 2018 after a long career as a Broadway hit-maker until TV successes like \u201cAll in the Family\u201d retired his comedies. A lackluster Broadway revival of \u201cBarefoot in the Park\u201d in 2006 did not kick off the expected Simon revival, and a 2005 Broadway production of \u201cThe Odd Couple\u201d proved one thing only: Coming off the superhit that was \u201cThe Producers,\u201d Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick together were still box office gold.<\/p>\n

Broderick is back at it, trying to revive a far weaker Simon effort, \u201cPlaza Suite\u201d from 1968. This marks his sixth Broadway appearance since that sodden \u201cOdd Couple.\u201d What makes this Simon revival noteworthy is the return to Broadway of Broderick\u2019s wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, who last appeared in her pre-\u201cSex in the City\u201d days in a revival of \u201cOnce Upon a Mattress\u201d in 1996. In between, she was enchanting in David Lindsay-Abaire\u2019s underrated \u201cWonder of the World\u201d at Off Broadway\u2019s MTC in 2001.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018And<\/p><\/div>\n

On stage now, Parker is as hard-working as Broderick is relaxed. She\u2019s always engaging because she\u2019s always coming up with some novel bit of business or an unusual line reading to keep us distracted from the fact that what she\u2019s doing and what she\u2019s saying is often not very inspired on the part of Simon. Congrats are in order here for Parker\u2019s director, John Benjamin Hickey.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a caveat regarding her performance: Parker isn\u2019t right for any of the three roles she plays in \u201cPlaza Suite,\u201d which is an evening of three skits, all set in the same room at Manhattan\u2019s Plaza Hotel. Maureen Stapleton originated the roles, and Parker lacks that comfortable-couch familiarity that is the essence of Simon\u2019s trio of heroines: Karen, the neglected wife; Muriel, the eagerly cheating wife; and Norma, the frenzied mother of the bride. Parker is a bewitched pixie flying around the kitchen sink. She isn\u2019t right but she often manages to be very funny.<\/p>\n

Broderick is absolutely right for the role of Sam, Karen\u2019s dismissive husband. He\u2019s so right he nearly disappears into the Plaza Hotel upholstery as Parker flutters around him. The spot-on set design is by John Lee Beatty.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Tony<\/p><\/div>\n

We know that the second skit is by far the weakest material, because Simon sandwiched it between act one and act three \u2014 as if we might forget about it. Here, Norma meets up with an old sweetheart, Jesse, who is now a sleazy Hollywood producer. Ah yes, this was the Golden Age of Broadway, when the mere mention of infidelity sent frissons of excitement through an audience. Broderick and Parker are dominated here by their gauche late-1960s outfits (by Jane Greenwood). The jokes rely on mixing up the brands Gucci and Pucci.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaza Suite\u201d ends with a farce in which a couple\u2019s daughter (Molly Ranson) has locked herself in the bathroom on her wedding day. George C. Scott originated the three male roles, and this was his opportunity to go full Pompeii. Where Scott spewed, Broderick sputters.<\/p>\n

Each of the skits of \u201cPlaza Suite\u201d is a little longer than an episode of \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm\u201d and none is as funny or as inventive. It\u2019s no wonder TV replaced Simon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018Confederates\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n

Robert Hofler, ‘s lead theater critic, has worked as an editor at Life, Us Weekly and Variety. His books include “The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson,” “Party Animals,” and “Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos.” His latest book, “Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne,” is now in paperback.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It happened for No\u00ebl Coward. It\u2019s not happening for Neil Simon. Angry young playwrights like John Osborne momentarily retired Coward\u2019s oeuvre before the British playwright\u2019s mid-20th-century comedies returned to the stage more popular and meaningful than ever. But don\u2019t expect a similar resurgence for Simon, who died in 2018 after a long career as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":90450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,105,106],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1648529515_Sarah-Jessica-Parker-Toils-While-Matthew-Broderick-Coasts.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}