- Title: SJP, Broderick debut Neil Simon's 'Plaza Suite' as Broadway looks to return
- Date: 29th March 2022
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 28, 2022) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** "PLAZA SUITE" CO-STARS, MATTHEW BRODERICK AND SARAH JESSICA PARKER [SJP], EMBRACING ON RED CARPET WIDE OF COUPLE IN FRONT OF MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) "PLAZA SUITE" CO-STARS, MATTHEW BRODERICK AND SARAH JESSICA PARKER, SAYING: PARKER SAYING: "We're not playing one another. We're playing people from a very different time. You know, gosh, how many years ago, 50 years ago? Who generationally, you know, have different influences on their life and men, male and female roles were very different. So there's really, I mean, that's why we're actors is we don't want to do what's familiar. What we're excited about in this play is three different characters who are wonderfully unfamiliar, but it doesn't mean you don't find things that you connect with or are intrigued by, or... " BRODERICK SAYING: "Yeah. Yeah, you use your own life in, but not in a big, general way. Like, 'this is like my marriage.' It's more like, this moment is something that I am familiar with, or, but it could be not from a marriage. it could be from anything. But you know, you try to relate it to your life. But not, not so literally. If you know what I mean." CLOSE OF PARKER (SOUNDBITE) (English) "PLAZA SUITE" CO-STARS, MATTHEW BRODERICK AND SARAH JESSICA PARKER, SAYING: "[REPORTER SAYING: "There's been a lot of delays. You guys have been through a lot. You know, how do you feel that now we're finally here?"] PARKER SAYING: "It feels really fortunate and especially that, you know, we've been able to keep the cast healthy. We've had one one incident and our cast will be complete as soon as it was expected to be tonight. I think all of us were working in the theater are just feeling enormously grateful and fortunate that our producers hung in there. But, but more so that the audiences came back, that we're able to support this community, you know, and that means restaurant workers and hotel employees and people that work at the delis, like it's it's a huge community. So it's pretty special that we get to be here again. A lot of shows didn't make it back, and it's heartbreaking for casts and everybody else." BRODERICK SAYING: "Yeah [LAUGHTER]" CLOSE OF BRODERICK / COUPLE VARIOUS OF BRODERICK AND PARKER IN INTERVIEW SIGN FOR "PLAZA SUITE" VARIOUS OF "PLAZA SUITE" DIRECTOR, JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY (SOUNDBITE) (English) "PLAZA SUITE" DIRECTOR, JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY, SAYING: "Six different characters played by two actors, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick. That... the first couple are, maybe at the end of a long marriage. The second couple are maybe at the beginning of a beautiful new relationship and the third couple are trying to get their daughter married. So it's three portraits of love and all of its complicated permutations. And that has enormous good humor and enormous heart. And you know, we're so fortunate to have these two actors who happened to be married to each other in real life, playing all six different parts. So it add this wonderful, I guess maybe even meta quality to it all." VARIOUS OF "PLAZA SUITE" ACTOR, DANNY BOLERO, ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) "PLAZA SUITE" ACTOR, DANNY BOLERO, SAYING: "Well, it's my first nonmusical, so there's that big difference. It's incredible. Like, I'm a huge fan of Neil Simon. And to bring this show to New York right now after the two years we've been coming out of is a gift. I mean, when we first opened, I was, I was excited, when we first started to open, I was so excited because I thought, we need this, you know, and then we went into the pandemic. So now to bring this to the audiences, I think, is a huge, huge honor and a huge privilege, to just offer it up and especially with the two that we have been leading the pack is amazing." "PLAZA SUITE" ACTOR, DANNY BOLERO, BEING INTERVIEWED ON RED CARPET, STANDING IN FOR, ERIC WEIGAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) "PLAZA SUITE" ACTOR, DANNY BOLERO, SAYING: "It's a masterclass. It absolutely is. Um, every second from like sharing a room and rehearsal with them [SARAH JESSICA PARKER AND MATTHEW BRODERICK], sharing moments on stage with them, sharing moving moments during lunch with them, uh, absorbing as much as I can." DESIGNER, PRABAL GURUNG, ON RED CARPET PARKER WEARING DRESS DESIGNED BY GURUNG (SOUNDBITE) (English) DESIGNER, PRABAL GURUNG, SAYING: "Sarah Jessica has been a good friend of mine for a long time. You know, she discovered me through my work and over the period of more than a decade, we've been great friends and with this particular, she had reached out to me to collaborate with her, and I jumped at the opportunity because she is a New Yorker through and through. And theater, a New York institution, like you know, she and her husband coming together. I mean, there couldn't be a more magical moment, and for that moment, I wanted to be, to be able to be part of that. I was so grateful. So it is a New York pink dress made in New York, fully embroidered in India that just arrived at 11 a.m. this morning." VARIOUS OF NEW YORK CITY MAYOR, ERIC ADAMS, ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK CITY MAYOR, ERIC ADAMS, SAYING: "As we walk the carpets, it's a real reflection on how Broadway is returning. It is really the signature of New York, and it's a reflection on how we are resilient and we're looking forward to a great season this year." GENERAL OF ADAMS IN INTERVIEW "SEX AND THE CITY" STAR AND DANCER, MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV, ON RED CARPET TELEVISION HOST, ANDY COHEN, ON RED CARPET "AND JUST LIKE THAT" STAR, SARITA CHOUDHURY, ON RED CARPET ACTOR, MARTIN SHORT, ON RED CARPET MAGAZINE EDITOR, ANNA WINTOUR, ON RED CARPET "SEX AND THE CITY," "GILDED AGE," "AND JUST LIKE THAT" ACTRESS, CYNTHIA NIXON, ON RED CARPET, SAYING: (NOT A SOUNDBITE) "I AM VERY EXCITED. I AM VERY EXCITED TO GET IN THERE" VARIOUS OF CURTAIN CALL VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF "PLAZA SUITE" AT HUDSON THEATRE
- Embargoed: 12th April 2022 03:39
- Keywords: And Just Like That Broadway Eric Adams Hudson Theatre Matthew Broderick Plaza Suite Sarah Jessica Parker
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Theatre,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001802228032022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Entertainment power couple, and now theater co-stars, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, had their Broadway premiere Monday (March 28) of their revival of the Neil Simon play, "Plaza Suite."
The night was two years in the making; the original New York premiere date was slated for March, 2020, but was postponed as a result of the pandemic.
Parker and Broderick led the New York red carpet that featured familiar faces of the SJP pantheon, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and Cynthia Nixon.
In an interview with Reuters, Parker said she felt, "fortunate," to finally put the show on in New York after an initial run in Boston.
"It's pretty special that we get to be here again," she said.
The play is being held at the Hudson Theater.
The play originally debuted back in 1968 and starred George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton in its first run.
The performance is a three-act comedy, centering on three different couples at very different stages of their respective relationships.
One is confronting tension on their 24th anniversary. Another is a duo of high-school sweethearts who are reuniting after many years apart. A third is a set of parents of a nervous bride.
Parker and Broderick said they're making sure not to solely look at the work through the lens of their own life.
"You try to relate it to your life," Broderick said. "But not so literally."
The show is running a limited engagement until June 26.
(Production by: Dan Fastenberg and Andrew Hofstetter) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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