‘Plaza Suite’ returns to Broadway with an ‘exuberant’ Sarah Jessica Parker in an otherwise ‘overlong’ production
Twenty-five years after her last appearance on Broadway, Sarah Jessica Parker has returned to the stage in the first revival of Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite.” For her long-awaited bow, Parker has brought along a familiar theatre actor, her husband and two-time Tony winner Matthew Broderick. The comedy features three standalone acts centering on a different couple that each occurs in Suite 719 of the famed Plaza Hotel in New York City. This production features the direction of Tony-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey and opened at the Hudson Theatre on March 28.
In the nearly 55 years since “Plaza Suite” premiered, critics have mostly cooled on the comedy. In a positive notice, Peter Marks (Washington Post) calls the show a “merry old time,” and Parker, Broderick, and Hickey “do proud the memory of Simon.” He applauds the “unbeatable” John Lee Beatty’s “resplendently detailed set of Room 719, a luxe facsimile of a Plaza Hotel room,” and writes that the second act in particular – in which Parker plays the old flame of a Hollywood filmmaker looking to rekindle their romance – affords Parker “a juicy platform for splendidly exuberant coyness” and Broderick the opportunity to “demonstrate the comedic subtlety for which he’s not always sufficiently recognized.”
WATCH 2022 Tony Awards slugfest: 20 productions vie for places in Play races
Alexis Soloski (Guardian) offers a little less warm take on the material, giving the “overlong” production three out of five stars. She notes the tiredness of the humor, writing, “A machine for laughing? You can hear the gears grinding.” She emphasizes Parker’s performance, saying she “is giving the most, carrying the comedy on her narrow shoulders,” even though she thinks less of Broderick, who “is doing a lot less, as is his way.” Even so, Soloski says together “they have a flagrant enjoyment in playing opposite each other.” Of the design, she also singles out Beatty’s “triumph” of a set and kudos the costumes by Jane Greenwood as “by and large a treat.”
Most negative of all is Jesse Green (New York Times), who calls the humor of the piece “uninhabitable in 2022” because of “the ghosts of #MeToo stalking the play” in the lasciviousness of the plots and often unfavorable depiction of women. He calls the cast “likable” but their efforts “wearying.” Unlike others who appreciated the real-life chemistry the married couple brings to their many roles, Green thinks their “evident affection […] extinguishes the spark of fury needed to ignite both laughs and pathos.” He dings Broderick as “about as fiery as a frozen dinner,” and says of Parker that she “fares better.”
WATCH 2022 Tony Awards slugfest: 13 productions vie for places in Musical races
According to our early Tony Awards combined odds, “Plaza Suite” trails in all of the above the line categories. The production currently ranks last in the Best Revival race of nine shows, Parker sits in ninth position in Best Actress, Broderick 12th in Best Actor, and Hickey 17th for Best Direction.
Of those races, Parker seems most underestimated based on the critical response to her performance. Even the harshest of reviews found much to like in her take on her three characters, which run the gamut from the wife of a philandering husband on their 23rd wedding anniversary, the high school sweetheart hoping to reunite with her former and now successful beau, and the mother of a very nervous bride on her wedding day. If anything, her position in the race reflects the competitiveness of the category, which will likely feature performances from reigning champion Mary-Louise Parker (“How I Learned to Drive”), Ruth Negga (“Macbeth”), Deirdre O’Connell (“Dana H.”), LaChanze (“Trouble in Mind”), Emily Davis (“Is This a Room”), or others.
Below the line, scenic designer Beatty could surprise with a nomination for his lavish recreation of the title hotel room. He is a favorite with past Tony nominators, after all, earning 15 career nominations including two wins for “Tally’s Folly” in 1980 and “The Nance” in 2013. Legendary costume designer Jane Greenwood could also find her way to a nomination because of the strength of her work and her track record with the Tonys with 21 nominations that include one win in 2017 for “The Little Foxes” and the 2014 Special Award for Lifetime Achievement.
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