The Plaza on the Stage

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in Plaza Suite

Hotels are much more than places to stay on those few days we are out of town or just a backdrop to our trips. Hotels are mini universes where so many layers and possibilities coexist — and probably why we love and celebrate them so much. And if you are Tennessee Williams or Oscar Wilde, then we get the story to a whole other level. And if for a moment we stop to imagine all that might take place inside the four corners of a hotel room, we would agree that it would be nothing short of being stage-worthy. And of all the hotels in New York City, which one could hold more juicy drama than a suite at The Plaza?

One of the hotels more seen on-screen in all history of movies, The Plaza is now live on Broadway with another New York City legend: Sarah Jessica Parker.

You would think SJP in her acting career so far, would have had the chance to explore every kind of relationship situation there possibly could be. But there were three left, it turns out, and she nails them all in her latest acting stint — on stage with a live audience this time, hello magic of Broadway.

SJP and her husband, Matthew Broderick, partner to play three different couples in the latest revival of the 1969 classic Plaza Suite written by Neil Simon, arguably the most successful playwright after the man Shakespeare himself. A play in three acts, each centered around a couple that checks in to Suite 719 of the iconic Plaza Hotel in New York City.

The Plaza in 1920, the year F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is published, with scenes set at the hotel

Hotels apparently don’t just have one job in the showbiz: starring in Wes Anderson movies. They have been muses and settings for innumerable plays including Tennessee Williams’ The Pink Bedroom, Green Eyes and Sweet Bird of Youth, Sarah Kane’s Blasted, Donmar’s Grand Hotel, Zecora Ura’s Hotel Medea among many many others.

But until all of them get behind raised curtains, in Suite 719, can the Nash’s fix their failing marriage just by revisiting their honeymoon suite? Can Jesse work his Hollywood charm and successfully seduce his childhood flame? Can the Hubley’s get their daughter out of the suite’s bathroom and onto the aisle of her own wedding, preferably without breaking down the door? With a cast and crew of many Tony, and Emmy, award winners, Plaza Suite, opened to raving reviews.

Parker and Broderick will be donning their three different stage wigs till the 26 of June 2022 at the Hudson Theater. If you’re in the mood to check into a room at the Plaza for a bargain, tickets here. Or see our New York hotel reviews.