The reports from friends who have seen the pre-Broadway Boston tryout of ‘Plaza Suite’ at the Emerson Theatre have been rapturous, which bodes well for our attendance at the first New York preview this Friday. When it was announced that John Benjamin Hickey was directing Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in a Neil Simon play, my friend Sherri and I debated which to attend – the Boston tryout or the New York premiere. We ultimately decided on New York’s first preview, since it fell on the same day as Skip’s birthday, and would put us right in the proximity of the play’s namesake. (I splurged and reserved a room at the Plaza for the weekend, because if ever there was a time to stay there, this would be it.)
A trip-tych of stories told from the same suite of the Plaza Hotel (Suite 719, I believe), ‘Plaza Suite’ was first performed in the late 1960’s, and this production will inject new life into the work thanks to the trio of creative stars who are bringing this into a very different world. From all indications, they are succeeding, and I haven’t been this excited about a play in a very long time. While Ms. Parker and Mr. Broderick are undoubtedly the big-name draws, the lynchpin may be Mr. Hickey’s directorial prowess. I remember Mr. Hickey from his riveting performance in 1995’s ‘Love! Valour! Compassion!‘ which completely changed my life, and if history is any indication, amazing things can happen when an actor shifts into directing mode.
The source material is intriguing too and anything that Neil Simon has written intrinsically contains both brilliance and humor and a crackling examination of how humans interact. One of the very first shows I’d ever seen on Broadway was his play ‘Lost in Yonkers’, which featured the then relatively-unknown incandescence of Mercedes Ruehl and (eek!) Kevin Spacey. An ensemble piece, the play was as touching as it was hilarious, and it drew me in even as an almost-teenager. More than that, it instilled an early love of theater, even if we didn’t make to Broadway very often to see new shows, and attending it with Suzie and our Moms made going to a show with loved ones a most favorite event. This time I get to do it with Sherri, Skip, and Chris (with whom I’ll be celebrating 25 years of friendship). A theatrical love-fest is surely in the works.
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