How can you 'not' like those two? They are terrific.
100
Very sweet story. I missed their performance in Boston because one or both was sick on the scheduled night. Hope Broadway goes smoothly!
21
I really want to see Neil Simon back on broadway , he plums the human condition , through humor and pain. These are universal problems that transcends the period they were written. We need more August Wilson plays back on broadway too! We must , like Shakespeare keep these plays in circulation as an example of what great writing is. Unless we want to see plays based on tv shows , like the Nanny. Yes that’s really happening.
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March 3, 2020
Many have waited an eternity to answer the question: Who' afraid of VW.....
And none other than a very smart couple Matthew and Sarah come to the reality politics to answer - can marriage be saved in the theater and for sure yes, yes and it doesn't get any better - life and living is the art for all times fit for the theater of life and truths.
19
God, it's so nice to read about a real celebrity couple, working together and working on staying together that also seem to really like each other. I hope the revival's a smash.
147
Wow. Aging is brutal.
23
“We haven’t been out for dinner together in a very long time.” This comment by Sarah Jessica Parker was something that I found interesting, to say the least. Why didn’t the journalist ask “why”?
15
@Peter Malbin - but there's a difference between being out for dinner together and their having dinner at home with the family, which it sounds like they do all the time.
51
Geez, could you find a less flattering photo of Parker??? She's not playing Medea!
66
Plastic people. They hired a surrogate to bear their baby. Give me a break!
16
I have chronic Sarah Jessica Fatigue Syndrome.
28
What a wonderful piece of reporting. Thoughtful, sweet, paying attention to uncovering the hidden relationship between what are very public persona. Do the photos pay homage to some of the bitterness that creeps into all relationships long term or is that myst my filter? Deeply respect these two who have a made their mark at times together, at times separately without ever compromising their togetherness. The 1996 picture is very spontaneous and sweet, the latter pictures thoughtfully melancholic. What a shame I never got to see any of these plays...
26
I always enjoyed Neil Simon's work capturing that post war period of the Big Apple when you had to have a sense of humor to get by in life.
Broadway could use more of that. Best of luck you two on your opening next week.
36
All the best to both of them, thanks for the story.
53
I always enjoyed Neil Simon's work capturing that post war period of the Big Apple when you had to have a sense of humor to get by in life.
Broadway could use more of that. Best of luck you two on your opening next week.
16
after hearing their joint interview on NPR and reading this piece, I like them more than ever. I have never picked up any phony, "I'm so terrific" vibe from either of them, and his honoring Neil Simon's genius is another big plus for me. He is also just about the only person who can hold his own against Nathan Lane! I love the Plaza Suite film and he's way cuter than Walter Matthau.
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Haven't seen much of Mathew since his days driving in Ireland. He's kept a relatively low profile since then for an actor. We've seen this act between him and his wife before in Lunt-Fontaine and Hume Croyn and Jessica Tandy. In a few years they'll be back for The Gin Game.
4
@PeterW - maybe you're kidding, but the musical of "Gin Game" that Martin Charnin had been involved with at Goodspeed many years ago https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/02/nyregion/theater-gin-game-is-reborn-as-a-musical-jokers.html
has always deserved another look, and who would be better than them a few years from now - with a real scenic budget where they could these days do smoothly what was a bit physically klunky back then (actors playing the cards in the deck, not a spoiler, it was in all the press).
3
@PeterW Huh?? Perhaps you don't go to the theatre, watch TV, or go to the movies? Matthew has been active every year. No Low Profile at all.
Here:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000111/
19
I saw Plaza Suite multiple while the show was in previews in Boston. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick do a phenomenal job of creating three distinct characters during the play. They change not just costumes for each act, but also their physicality and voices. I sat upfront in the theatre for each performance; it was amazing to see how "locked" into each other they are on stage. I was transfixed by their Olympic level, top shelf, best of their generation acting! There are multiple celebrities currently on the Broadway stage, none with the same legacy of performing in the theatre as these two. I highly recommend this show!
108
@ma.ma.dance They will become the Lunt and Fontaine of this generation!
14
I saw the show in Boston and it was a pure delight- Sadly, a woman in the audience had a medical emergency mid-show and Ms. Parker changed the blocking to signal to her husband that something was going on. He kept going on and eventually she walked to the apron of the stage and stopped. It gave us a chance to see their marriage play out on stage.
The audience was then understandably tense but their warmth and acting chops brought everyone back into The Plaza. We hoped the woman was okay but overall, it was an amazing night in the theatre!
58
Aah and that is what I (a transplanted NYer) miss about being on the left coast. A lack of such good shows and (pizza of course). Seriously, I've never seen SJP perform live, but was lucky to catch MB in the Starry Messenger on London's west end last year. Despite a middling script, MB was good as always and it was a fun evening. I hope I can score tickets to this show when I make my way back to NY in May. Loved the article BTW.
28
My kids and I are seriously looking at dates to fly to NY to see this production! I'm thrilled that both Parker and Broderick are starring together in Plaza Suite. I loved the original play / movie, so I know we won't be disappointed. Talk about a fun evening. I can't wait.
29
“Extreme dad energy” is a perfect description for the mature Matthew Broderick. personally, I suspect he purposely plays that up. It’s been interesting to see Broderick grow up, from goofy, guileless young guy to stodgy older fellow. The comparison of this yin yang duo to the coyote and badger buddies is apt, but now I will never be able to unsee the image in my head when I see these two. So, thanks for that.
32
Reading this makes me want to hop on a plane to NYC and see this play! You lucky New Yorkers who have great theatre on your doorstep!
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@Maureen I saw the play in Boston. Get on a plane!
11
@Maureen
My thoughts exactly! This is one of the many times I am so darn envious of people who live there.
17
Broderick and Parker make this venture sound kinda neat. The play itself however, sounds quite dated and appealing only to New Yorkers who dig old Broadway nostalgia.
17
When a successful marriage of two successful actors get a hold of a successful script to play off of -their is only one event that can take place, if the the direction is equal to by comparison-a successful production will follow and the audience will have a most rewarding successful evening at the threater!
12
interviews are performances, too.
51
What you said.
10
Am trying to figure out if I can afford to fly out from London to see the show.
28
I love them both and love that they have managed to be an old school show biz couple for so long. Maybe because they are much more New York than Hollywood. They have had terrific careers on stage as much as on screen. Hopefully they will succeed in bringing a love of Neil Simon back to Broadway. It's a shame he's considered out of fashion. Why? Funny is Funny!
45
@Thankful68 - regarding "It's a shame he's considered out of fashion."
Looking at ibdb and add in the Sutton Foster off-Broadway "Sweet Charity," somehow his hit musicals feel like they may never go out of fashion, and even aspects that were so of the era when they opened feel like they were observantly commenting on that era. The books seems built to last.
8
I wish I could separate the real respect I feel for both, and the wonderful gifts they've both shared with us over the years, with the antiquated material they've chosen. On the other hand, the recent production of Fosse/Verdon captured many elements of that very same era, with spectacular results. I wish them luck and happiness in their newest pursuit, together, hand in hand.
23
Really, with all the new and relevant material that deserve a chance for production, why, WHY why this schticky, outmoded, very white and upper middle class New York play now??? I predict a major fail. Recycled, stale canned "humor". This play is suited to the senior-citizens who go to community theater in the hinterlands, and fly-over state High Schools...Parker and Broderick are the draw for people still fixated on "SATC" and "Ferris Buller", but other than that...ugh. No thanks.
21
@Patou Wow. That's a lot of vitriol for a play.
95
@Patou It actually sounds pretty great to me! Did it ever occur to you that not all good things are new or need to be somehow "improved?
74
What's not to love about this couple? They defy my generally cynical view about celebrity power couples.
61
Can't wait to see the show (March 25)!
17
@Martha do you really think there will be any tickets to others than the NY theater establishment, some Hollywood folks just in for this occasion?
1
Pure joy.
14
The first time I saw him I thought "this is a good guy, I like this guy." And my reaction has always been the same whether he's with Jerry in a car getting coffee or...Ferris...or that nuke movie... and I'm sorry Springtime never played in my neighborhood 3000 miles away. I wonder if somebody did a play about Matthew and Sarah's lives whether it would have enough of what Sorkin requires, obstacles and intent. Can great couples make good movies? Let's start with Bud and Alice...the most stunning couple I ever met.
7
I was lucky enough to meet SJP with friend just when her relationship with Matthew was beginning. We were outside in L.A. the night before the oscars. I, a nobody, sat on a curb with this fictional tiny human, who was completely and utterly regular in her spilling of her love for him already.
She spoke as though we had been friends for years. She was tiny, in black leggings and t shirt. She was so polite when the friend she had come with to shoot baskets in a neighborhood court said it was time to go. She looked and said, Im so sorry. I have to get to Calvin Klein to have a final fitting for my oscar dress tomorrow. I think perhaps this was the only person who could have said this to me in such an unpretentious way that I could have sworn she was going to say "see you later". I, being in L.A. to do fabric shopping having been there on business as a designer, was left agog by the fact that she was headed of to see "Calvin"... Tuned in the next night to see her present at the oscars, in her pink dress and huge hair. This is an actress. She is a lovely person, terribly genuine, and I see now still very much in love.
177
Oh, how I love Sarah Jessica Parker, for me, the quintessential New Yorker. Her spot on “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” in that old station wagon is still one of my favorites. I still replay one of her appearances on the “Late Show with David Letterman” just to hear her sing “Tomorrow.” And if she were born 25 years earlier, she would’ve been great in “That Girl.”
69
It's fun to see likable actors in plays. To have two of them on the same stage, married in real life and in fiction, is remarkable. Kudos to Sarah and Matthew for taking this plunge.
70
I imagine they have built such a successful personal relationship because they have kept it so private. Kudos to two talented, smart actors with lots of common sense.
141
I'm honored to have had the opportunity to see these 2 together on stage in Boston, and to have seen Matthew in Simon plays on Broadway when we were both much younger. Always had such a crush on you, Matthew.
37
The chemistry between these two made the show. Yes, delightful! It was just plain fun to watch them interact physically and verbally. They were having tons of fun and it was infectious to us in the audience
Too bad Simon's circa 1969 vignettes don't reflect today's social temperament. Broderick was so funny channeling Austin Powers in Act 2! Unfortunately the Hollywood producer as seducer act of 50 years ago thuds today. And the infantilization of the bride in Act 3 is pretty outdated too.
I'd love to see this couple perform again but in a play that better reflects today.
18
@Christen Graham, as I read the article I was wondering about exactly that. “Plaza Suite” is so era specific, and the era is perhaps too recent.
11
This show, and Parker and Broderick in it, are pure entertainment. We floated out of the theater on a cloud of delight.
57
@Constance I am so envious!! Lucky you!!
17
Two fabulous actors!
22
Seems like it will be a great show. Both are fabulous actors. One question about the article: I think the word in the following should be PARTS, not PANTS, correct?
Parker and Broderick play them with retro costumes and elaborate wigs and outer-borough accents. “I have PANTS in Act 2,” Broderick said about the plaid set, “where I don’t really have to do anything.”
12
@Bill Hi, Bill. I think he's saying that the plaid pants cover a lot of the acting territory for him. It does say that he was referring to the "plaid set." His character is defined by that look. Tight plaid pants. Some of us remember when they weren't ironic. Now they'd be an instant laugh.
Shagadelic, baby.
43
@Bill, but that “about the plaid set” indicates that he is, indeed, talking about pants. As in, the pants do the acting for him.
21
@Bill I saw it in Boston. He means pants. They are an entity.
19
I just always have to smile when I read anything about Parker. She exudes such goodwill and I love how she wears her New Yorkiness on her sleeve. Looking forward to seeing this show.
100
@Mike She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.
3
She’s been living in New York for over 30 years. I’m pretty sure that qualifies her as a New Yorker.
19
Not sure why the "hook" to this story is the actor's "relationship." Given how wonderful Plaza Suite is, a work of art, in fact, one wonders why the actor's interpretation of those complex characters is not the "hook" to this story.
Frankly, this piece about the "relationship" of the actors is a bit of a lazy approach to what could be a marvelous opportunity to reduce some of the complexities of the roles down to the street level for public consumption.
Oh well. Maybe people will go see it in spite of this article.
6
That's a pretty kill joy thing to say.. I would so love to travel to NYC to see Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker act together in this or any other play ...
34
Can't wait to see the show!
5
Wonderful article. SJP has had to withstand such mean spirited comments about her appearance. I think she is one hot and interesting cookie. It must be tough some days to leave the townhouse. Really.
68
@Lisa The first time I saw SJP was on the tv show "Square Pegs". She wasn't conventionally pretty, but she was still magnetic.
34
@Lisa Surprised to see this. I've never seen SJP in persron but she's always struck me as being a delightful, slightly impish and adorable woman.
19
@Lisa I saw her in a NYC store once, with Matthew and their newborn son. She was glowing and I was immediately starstruck. She is gorgeous in person. And she was also very gracious. I've been a fan ever since!
15
Saw this during its Boston run. It's delightful!!
19
Two marvelously talented actors in such a classic play. Wow! Maybe the only time I'll envy the people of New York City who have a chance to see it and them. Turning green here.....
34
They took the bus! That alone makes me a fan and I am getting my tickets today.
187
@Kevin Ambrose I know I was so excited to read that!! As a native NY'er who just moved away two years ago this whole article has me very homesick. Tickets will be purchased today!!
18
Lovely couple that endures . Cheers !
41
Two fantastic entertainers. What a life!
39
Reminds me of Jessica Tandy and Hugh Cronin.
66
@CW
Hume Cronyn, have a nice day.
6
@CW Hume Cronyn...
3
Wow! After all this time & they aren’t sick of each other!
That ALONE is newsworthy!
54
Individually incredibly talented and totally deserving of as much privacy and personal space as they can pry from the tabloid media I am just utterly grateful for the gifts of their talents they have given us as audience members. So much as I dream of what they can accomplish together, we've all seen too many star couples whose relationships have not survived the pressure cooker of acting as co-stars combined with the intense media pressure that always comes with that. Either way, I wish them well. They really do have it together as a couple and that is a really great accomplishment all by itself.
86
I have to admit I always click on promotional articles like that but never really read them. I fast-read, get bits and pieces and move on to greener pastures.
Today however I lingered. Still, stubbornly refusing to read about a new book, new film, or new theater play, I stayed and stared at a picture.
Excellence in black and white. A woman in front, a few wrinkles in her face, aged hands, a beautiful statement for aging gracefully at a time where most celebrities seem to have a standing appointment with plastic surgeons.
While I cannot (and will not) comment on the article, I applaud you for the picture.
Signed,
A middle-aged, woman who is proud of the map of life in her face as well!
195
@Bri
Yes, the b&w photos are very good. Article wasn't bad either.
42
You are not the only one! Read the article from start to finish. Then lingered to view photos and revisit some sections.
Growing up with these two great entertainers, this story felt like a piece of history. Contemporary and past. Not only about the two actors but our shared cultural experience.
New York, Neil Simon and Broadway. Such greatness and inspiration!
63