Plaza Suite Reviews – Starring Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick

"Sarah Jessica Parker's triumphant West End stage debut in Plaza Suite: Mr and Mrs SJP are frisky fun in this (expensive) first-class Suite"

"You want showbiz? You want celebrity? You want reassuringly expensive A-lister stardust? Here it comes in the shape of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick"

"... most interestingly, in a play about the vicissitudes of love and marriage, this showbiz power couple inevitably put their own union centre-stage. There's no way they could get through this play without probing their own hang-ups. And yet where there's angst there's laughs, and Simon's wit blows fresh air through any uncertainties we may feel."

"Although SJP performs comic gymnastics of her own, Broderick covers most of the physical comedy, including getting stuck in a window frame while venturing onto a seventh-floor ledge."

"They say chintz is coming back into fashion, but it's still a slightly frumpy, frowning spectacle. However, frisky performances lighten the visual load and lift the spirits. Whether that justifies the admission price, gentle reader, only you can tell."

"Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick sparkle"

"... it’s very hard to judge this production on its own merits. But let’s start by saying that it’s good to see Simon’s name back in lights in the West End."

"Are the VIPs any good? The audience at the performance I saw had already made up its mind on that score, breaking into prolonged applause, Broadway-style, when they made their entrances in the first instalment"

"Parker delivers enough sparkle and ditziness throughout the evening, but Broderick doesn’t bring much depth to a burnt-out, number-crunching executive who even seems to treat his affair as one more assignment."

"Things pick up after the interval when a garishly dressed Broderick, suddenly bearing a startling resemblance to Austin Powers, portrays a Hollywood producer intent on seducing his high school girlfriend"

"Is Sarah Jessica Parker’s new play really worth the £300 ticket?"

"Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick shine in this sweetly dated rom-com"

"Gosh, with all the furore over prices and cooing over the arrival in town of New York showbiz royalty, you might forget there is actually a good show at the centre of it all."

"Does this 1968 play remain cutting edge in its depiction of three couples over three acts in one suite in an old-school luxury New York hotel? Absolutely not. While Simon offers all sorts of evergreen insights into the patterns men and women form, this comes with the baggage of its era."

"That act goes on too long. Before it, though, Plaza Suite is really quite a treat. Not least because both actors, but Parker in particular, are simply phenomenal at what they do. Light comedy is an underrated art, but the ease, the panache, the empathy, the art-that-conceals-art energy this pair give off will stick in my mind for a long time."

"Their performances feel intimate as well as expansive. Even when they are playing people not clicking, these 27-years-marrieds click."

"Sarah Jessica Parker’s West End debut is a wallet-busting treat"

"The Sex and the City star and her husband Matthew Broderick are superb in Neil Simon's sexually inhibited 1968 hit. But are they worth £395?"

"The public appetite for this show, which has extended its run, stems greatly from Parker’s presence."

"While it might be a stretch to say she’s worth every penny of the full price, she’s terrific entertainment value... Parker offers immaculate room-service as she delivers polished rounds of rueful wisecracks"

"... after the interval, things get more wildly, sketchily silly. Broderick is creepily amusing as Jesse Kiplinger, a thrice-divorced Hollywood producer trying to woo, with vodka and clumsy overtures"

"It’ll be hard to forget the sight of Parker’s fussing, flamboyantly overdressed Mrs Hubley clinging to his shredded coat-tails and being towed behind him as he steams towards the obstinately bolted door like a demented bull. And the image sums up what Simon says, so simply, about marriage. A wallet-busting treat."

"Sarah Jessica Parker's London theatre debut is dazzling"

"Anyone hoping for Carrie Bradshaw's swagger may be disappointed, but this has a charm all its own"

"OMG, it’s SJP! However inured we become to celebrity, it’s thrilling to see Sarah Jessica Parker make her London theatre debut, showing off considerable comic chops and an easy onstage rapport with her husband Matthew Broderick."

"John Lee Beatty’s set is a clunky idea of five-star decor, the supporting cast almost unnoticeable and the whole thing occupies a very rarefied niche of New York society. But complaining that a Broadway show is “too New Yorky” is as pointless as whining about its high ticket prices in London. Plaza Suite is pretty much sold out because people will pay for sensational event theatre and the chance to see a star in the flesh, especially one this consistently fascinating. If you can afford it, Sarah Jessica Parker – with Broderick as Ken to her Barbie – is worth it."

"Sarah Jessica Parker is a joy in Plaza Suite at the Savoy Theatre"

"She stars with Matthew Broderick in this London staging of Neil Simon’s comic triptych"

"The main draw of John Benjamin Hickey’s production is the evident bond between Parker and Broderick as they play out multiple variations of marital misery. Parker, in particular, is a joy, bringing zest, precise detail and sharp comic timing to her characters. But it’s not quite enough to blow the dust off the play and its creakily dated depiction of the sexes. More than 50 years on, the comedy has aged; each act, though short, feels overextended, while the scenes never really explore the loneliness and pain that can lurk beneath the comedy."

"That’s despite the work of Parker, who finds some depth in Simon’s flimsy female characters."

"It’s Neil Simon: there are zingers and classic bits of funny business. But old is not always gold."

"Are Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick worth the ticket prices?"

"Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are having a blast in Neil Simon's dated comedy - but are they really worth the price?"

"Laughs rang out throughout the performance, followed by a heartfelt standing ovation, to which Parker giddily waved back, girlishly crouching down as the curtain lowered. But is it really worth all the hype?"

"Simon excels at repartee and snappy one-liners. There's also subtle physical comedy from Broderick, muting his natural charisma. But the playwright's women from this era are relentlessly ridiculous, foolish and insubstantial. It's a credit to the leads' chemistry and class that they breathe any life into an increasingly unpleasant situation, although their palpable affection also dilutes its bitter core."

"Across all three acts, Simon seems to like relationships little and women even less. There's an underlying belittling meanness to his portrayal of people in suburban or traditional lives and relationships. Even though I chuckled throughout, the more I thought about it all afterwards, the less funny I found it."

"SJP fans, of course, will happily fork out to see their idol in the flesh and she makes a confident, accomplished West End debut. I'd rather see what she can do next time with more substantial material."

"Sarah Jessica Parker fans will enjoy her enthusiastic performance opposite husband Matthew Broderick, but this is a dated production of a dated play"

"Playing three very different sets of couples who check into the titular suite 719 over a period of months, it lets the duo flex their acting muscles. But ‘Plaza Suite’ is simply not a very good play, and while I think it would have come across better if a more modern sensibility had been applied to the comedy, that’s not what we get with John Benjamin Hickey’s fusty, stilted production."

"I’ve moaned, but it’s an unusual prospect, a comedy that would almost certainly never have been revived were it not for the attachment of the two leads."

"... I don’t think this is a cynical choice of play. Indeed, they could have made life a lot easier for themselves with material that’s easier to sell. But they really give it a go. Broderick labours some of his parts, but he’s always trying to do something interesting. Parker, meanwhile, may not be the actress to find depth in this script, but she has an effervescent lightness of touch that leavens the stodginess of the writing - she is always watchable and winsome, even playing the creepy Muriel."

"Sarah Jessica Parker is a revelation alongside husband Matthew Broderick"

"Starring the Rolls Royce real-life-husband-and-wife vehicle of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, these three snapshots of battles between the sexes are so rooted in historical attitudes and Simon’s dyspeptic view of the state of his own era that it is impossible to enjoy them as anything but period pieces. And slightly difficult to relish them even as that – though Parker’s enthusiasm for the project is infectious enough just about to carry you through."

"All the pieces, skilfully directed by John Benjamin Hickey, have a deeply jaundiced view of male and particularly female behaviour beneath their smooth surfaces, yet Parker’s honesty, her vigour, and her pure gift for comedy both physical and verbal, disguise some of their obvious shortcomings. She’s a revelation."

"Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are spectacles at the celebrity circus"

"Despite a thrilling premise – New York’s power couple staging unhappy marriages – this dated production coasts on its stars’ fame rather than testing their seasoned skills on the boards"

"Never mind the comedy on stage, this is a celebrity circus. Even costume changes get audience oohs and aahs. It seems oddly disproportionate because, as exciting as it may be to see Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw on stage, the production is flat and forgettable, not testing either actor’s seasoned skills on the boards (though this is Parker’s debut in the West End)"

"That is a shame because there is something thrilling about its premise: for Parker and Broderick, who are married, to play three different 1960s-era couples living in marital disharmony, each dramatising their unspent desires and disappointments in the same swanky seventh-floor hotel suite. What truth and tension can they bring to Simon’s romcom gone awry? Not much. Under the direction of John Benjamin Hickey, it feels strangely like Parker and Broderick are saying lines rather than assuming roles."

"Times are tough for the arts but commercial theatre can surely be braver than this."

"Real-life couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick cannot save Neil Simon’s dated romcom"

"The husband-wife duo star in John Benjamin Hickey’s adaptation of the classic Simon comedy – but they’re not always in on the jokes"

"Sex and the City won legions of super-loyal fans because of its sleek, sexy vision of Gen X womanhood – Sarah Jessica Parker’s priorities were fashion and friendship, not running round after men. So it’s a bit surprising that she’s decided to make her West End debut in a creaky 1968 Neil Simon comedy that harks back to the days when women were meant to fill their brains exclusively with fussing over their husbands and kids."

"It’s certainly fun to see the legendary SJP playing against type in the first playlet"

"... while his [Neil Simon's] work on musicals Sweet Charity and A Chorus Line has endured, comedies such as Plaza Suite haven’t, and director John Benjamin Hickey’s production doesn’t make much of a case for reviving them. The jokes feel effortful and small “c” conservative: landing them would be a stretch for far more accomplished stage actors than Parker and Broderick, who are just about good enough here."

"Mechanical museum piece"

"Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s combined star power struggles to enliven this outdated matrimonial comedy"

"Do you have a hankering to see Carrie Bradshaw and Ferris Bueller in the flesh? Why else would anybody rush to this mechanical revival of Neil Simon’s dull and dated 1968 comedy. The glitzy casting of Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker and her actor husband Matthew Broderick also accounts for the much-discussed, eye-watering ticket prices. Even their biggest fans must be thinking: they’d better be worth it.

"So, are they? Well, in John Benjamin Hickey’s production, transferred from Broadway, the pair are certainly competent, with all the accomplished comic timing and cunningly deployed, tongue-in-cheek charm that their screen work promises. But there’s a grating, over-deliberate quality here, every gag, tic, cocked eyebrow and wry intonation arriving bang on cue without the faintest scintilla of spontaneity. It’s nowhere near enough to lend substance to Simon’s overstretched writing."

"Sarah Jessica Parker’s soul-sapping West End debut"

"Parker and her real-life husband Matthew Broderick star in Neil Simon's "comedy" about marriage. Judging by this, both comedy and marriage are relentlessly joy-free"

"Unfortunately, an inert production manages to make both marriage and comedy appear a relentlessly joy-free trudge, despite the sparkling star wattage of real-life married couple Sarah Jessica Parker, making her West End debut, and Matthew Broderick."

"... there dawns the disconcerting realisation that despite Parker and Broderick’s 32-year relationship they manifest almost zero chemistry together on stage."

"John Benjamin Hickey, a Tony Award-winning actor, is the director, of only his second production. A more experienced hand might have curbed some of Parker and Broderick’s worse excesses, but goodness knows what anyone would do with the third act"

"Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker send ticket prices soaring in a creaking Neil Simon revival"

"Though rapturously applauded as soon as they arrive on stage, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, who play three different couples meeting in the same suite at the Plaza hotel, are doing coathanger acting, encased in a set by John Lee Beatty that is both doggedly realistic and flimsy"

"There is, it’s true, some agile comic legwork."

"The pair are in a hopeless case dramatically. Yet paradoxically, John Benjamin Hickey’s sluggish Broadway production is an ad for the theatre. The sheer thrill of seeing the screen couple in the flesh has sent prices soaring. What might have happened with a crisply directed, sharply written play?"