Review Roundup: PLAZA SUITE, Starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Opens On Broadway!

Plaza Suite, starring two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick and two-time Emmy Award winner Sarah Jessica Parker, officially opens on Broadway tonight at the Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street) in a strictly limited engagement through Sunday, June 26.

The cast also includes Danny Bolero as The Waiter, Drama Desk Award nominee Molly Ranson as Jean McCormick/Mimsey Hubley, and Eric Wiegand as The Bellhop/Borden Eisler. The cast is completed by Tony Award winner Michael McGrath and Tony Award nominee Erin Dilly, who will standby for Broderick and Parker, respectively; in addition to understudies Cesar J. Rosado, Laurie Veldheer, Bryan Eng, and Olivia Hernandez.

Read the reviews here:

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Jesse Green, The New York Times: The first thing you see when the curtain goes up on "Plaza Suite" is an aquatint image of that grand hotel in its antique glory. But when it comes to datedness, the faux-French pile that opened its doors in 1907 has nothing on the Neil Simon comedy - itself a faux-French pile - that debuted on Broadway in 1968. Despite the wearying efforts of a likable cast headed by Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, the passage of 54 years is more than enough to reveal the triptych of one-act plays as uninhabitable in 2022.

Helen Shaw, Vulture: The third play climaxes with various comic lazzi that Simon could have borrowed from Goldoni, if there were seventh-floor hotel rooms in 18th-century Venice. It's a bummer when it finally turns back into a Simon relationship play, with some limp observations about these youth today. Is this a flaw in the original, or in this revival? It's tricky to work out, since so much depends on rhythm. In all three plays, Hickey and his actors have found many little moments for physical comedy - Muriel sometimes kicks her legs like a colt trying to get to its feet, Roy clearly has a twingey back - but these jolts are rarely enough to create a sustained energy. The same is true for the evening as a whole. I know you can't wander around rewriting Neil Simon, but maybe they could have just ... skipped the middle one-act? That one's a cold cocktail frankfurter, I'll tell you that.

Naveen Kumar, Broadway News: It's no surprise that the production's high-voltage stars, who last appeared together on Broadway nearly 30 years ago, have an easy, unassailable chemistry. There's even a slight air of voyeurism to casting Broderick and Parker to perform husband-and-wife routines, as though they might offer an oblique glimpse inside the couple's private life. But despite their offstage connection and individual talents, their performances here are out of step.

Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely: If anyone was going to make his 1968 Plaza Suite a hit in 2022, it's Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. Two longtime Broadway darlings, they are as 'classic New York' a couple as they come. To say their name is to invoke visions of champagne-washed elegance, of well-heeled strolls through the city's tony avenues, of effortless bliss. And yet not even SJP's incandescent star power can brush off the dust settled on this three-act look at marriage in the late '60s. Unadorned by John Benjamin Hickey's straightforward direction, the highly anticipated, pandemic-delayed production does only improve as it goes on, so long as you make it past its dreadful first act.

Mark Kennedy, Associated Press: Aside from the odd dated reference - Dr. Joyce Brothers, hello? - and some unfortunate reminders of our current time - like that powerful Hollywood producers using hotel rooms for seduction isn't very funny anymore - "Plaza Suite" definitely feels more than 50 years old. It's stuck in the mid-20th century with its privileged elites, offering pre-feminist musings on midlife crises and the elusiveness of marital bliss, all over a room service double scotch. It is being staged for the very people who feel the need to burst into applause when they first see John Lee Beatty's gorgeous Plaza set, complete with chandeliers, sconces and timelessly elegant chairs. They know they'll be gently taken care of in here, like guests at a stuffy, hyper-expensive hotel living off its legacy, that has endured. Not challenged or stretched. It is an elegant looking past, yes, but it's time for the new. Today, it has to be new.

Daniel D'Addario, Variety: So thank goodness for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick - the two contemporary stars perhaps most apt for an exercise in squareness. To call their work in the new Broadway revival of "Plaza Suite" at the Hudson Theatre "diligent" is to suggest a leaden night out. But the real-life married couple bring a serious commitment to the spirit of the work, allowing their own personas to throw some metatextual sparks without overtaking the spirit of Simon. As directed by John Benjamin Hickey, Parker and Broderick provoke, alienate and woo one another, and provide a strong argument for a playwright whose work seems next-to-impossible to subvert.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: Alas, the stars' efforts, while certainly appealing, don't make the material any less obsolete, a throwback to the bougie boulevard comedies that were once a Broadway staple. The observations on marriage and relationships occasionally generate a chuckle, but more often seem stale and the sexual politics retrograde, something that John Benjamin Hickey's serviceable direction can't disguise. The laughs mostly spring from watching a real-life showbiz couple kick back and have fun bouncing off each other. Judging by the hearty response at a recent press night, for many that might be reward enough.

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

Matt Windman, amNY: In the midst of domestic political tensions, overseas conflict, the pandemic, and emotionally-charged cultural debates, "Plaza Suite" offers sitcom comedy, sharp one-liners, sentimental and nostalgic touches, straightforward direction (by actor John Benjamin Hickey), and performances by two familiar stage and screen stars. It's the equivalent of feel-good comfort food, like grandma's chicken noodle soup - at least until it becomes clear that the production is not as good as it ought to be.

Alexis Soloski, The Guardian: In every scene, Parker is giving the most, carrying the comedy on her narrow shoulders - slumped for Karen, shrugging for Muriel, a wilting if increasingly frantic flower for mother-of-the-bride Norma. Broderick, is doing a lot less, as is his way. But they have a flagrant enjoyment in playing opposite each other, which is the best and maybe the only reason to book in. In the midst of all this heteronormative malaise, here, at least, is one happy marriage.

Greg Evans, Deadline: More than anything else, Plaza Suite, opening tonight at the Hudson Theatre, provides one of Broadway's most loved couples the chance to share the stage in a slick, amiable setting that asks just enough of its stars to successfully woo an audience primed for love. Directed by John Benjamin Hickey with a clear reverence for Simon and the theatrical era in which his 1968 comedy titillated matinee audiences, this new Plaza Suite feels mostly like an exercise in nostalgia - for a couple we've watched grow up, for a Broadway that demands little, and for the late playwright whose contributions to popular culture go far beyond this mid-level effort.

Johnny Oleksinski, The New York Post: Co-starring Parker's husband Matthew Broderick, the 1960s-set comedy is an old-fashioned affair to be sure, but a sparkling one. "Sex and the City" fans will certainly enjoy it more than HBO's weirdly woke and clunky "And Just Like That." And, for everybody else, Simon's middle-drawer play is a relaxing vacation from our overly serious theater season.

Joe Westerfield, Newsweek: If one goes into Studio 54 expecting a dusty old collection of boulevard comedies, they are in for a real surprise and a real treat. These are truly funny comedies of manners-usually bad manners-that have aged quite well, and Parker and Broderick are in top form, keeping things fresh and moving. Parker in particular gives a virtuoso comic performance. In each play, she moves easily from landing a subtle comic line to broad physical comedy to some very touching moments. And all the time, she keeps any Carrie Bradshaw mannerisms under wraps. She just has to come back to Broadway more often.

Adam Feldman, Time Out New York: Neil Simon's Plaza Suite is back on Broadway, and the title character looks great. When the curtain goes up, the set gets entrance applause; designed by John Lee Beatty, that master of envy-inducing decor, it has a golden glow of classic luxury. Simon's hit 1968 trilogy of short comedies, about three different couples in Room 719 of the ritzy Manhattan hotel, is perhaps less timeless in its appeal. Its main characters are mostly middle-aged, and so is the writing; it is now over 50, and its comic cheek is showing some laugh lines. But the vestiges of laughs are nice wrinkles, as wrinkles go, and while this production doesn't leave you rolling in the aisles, it is likely to at least leave you smiling.

David Cote, Observer: For both actors, Plaza Suite ought to be a wonderful workout, a chance to show off versatility while nailing Simon's well-crafted yuks. Instead, it feels like community theater for rich people, amateurish despite the deluxe sets and costumes (by John Lee Beatty and Jane Greenwood, respectively). When you leave Neil Simon feeling protective of his literary reputation, you know something's gone terribly wrong.

Jesse Oxfeld, New York Stage Review: Both Broderick and Parker have worked for many years on stage and screen, but, generally speaking, Broderick is today known as the stage actor of the couple, with two Tony Awards, while Parker is the TV star. And yet it's Parker who acquits herself best through this trio of one-acts, reminding us that she is a gifted physical performer, as good with the broad strokes of sell-it-to-the-back-row vaudevillian comedy as she is in HBO closeup. Broderick, on the other hand, seems almost miscast in the first two segments.

Frank Scheck, New York Stage Review: Hence the new production of Simon's play, starring real-life husband and wife Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker in the roles originally played onstage by the formidable George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton. Unfortunately, these likable actors only intermittently infuse comic dynamism into the dated work which needed a firmer directorial stamp than the one applied by actor John Benjamin Hickey, here making his Broadway staging debut. When a Neil Simon play gets its biggest laugh by unveiling a character's garish plaid pants, you know that something's not working.

Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater: I don't know that anybody would select "Plaza Suite" as one of Simon's best, although I imagine that the original director, Mike Nichols, got better performances from the original cast, George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton than current director John Benjamin Hickey has done - and I don't have to imagine that Walter Matthau made better comic hay of it (along with Stapleton, Lee Grant and Barbara Harris) in the movie. I view the current "Plaza Suite" as a vehicle, a reunion, an acting exercise based on a writing exercise, and not worth getting exercised about.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Theatre Guide: Amid many memorable lines, one by Karen Nash that comes about two minutes into the show has been playing on a loop in my head. "Old is no good anymore," she says. Sorry, Karen, you're wrong. This 54-year-old comedy may be no spring chicken, but it's good enough to be one of Broadway's biggest events of the season.

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