It's 25 years since Sarah Jessica Parker became a household name in the UK, playing the "New York sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw" in TV's "Sex and the City", said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph.
Now, finally, British fans are able to "see her in the flesh", as she makes her West End debut in Neil Simon's 1968 comedy "Plaza Suite", a triptych of playlets set in the famous Manhattan hotel. The conceit of the piece is that the same suite, 719, is "successively inhabited by three sets of unhappy mid-lifers" – each played by Parker and her real-life husband Matthew Broderick. This pairing has helped turn the play into London's hottest ticket, with prices up to £300. Parker, though, is the main draw, and while it's a stretch to say "she's worth every penny", she is "terrific entertainment".
It's "fun to see the legendary SJP play against type" in the first of the shorts, said Alice Saville in The Independent. She appears as Karen, a dowdy, ditzy Long Island housewife who has booked the suite for what proves to be a failed anniversary tryst with her workaholic husband. Next up, she is a married woman meeting up with an old-flame-turned-famous-Hollywood-producer (Broderick in an Austin Powers wig), who aims to seduce her. Finally, we descend to "total silliness", with a couple trying to persuade their 21-year-old daughter Mimsy, an anxious bride, to come out of a locked bathroom as the wedding guests wait downstairs.
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Broderick and Parker deploy the "comic talent and tongue-in-cheek charm" you'd expect from two seasoned pros, said Sam Marlowe in The Stage. But their acting has a "grating, over-deliberate quality", with "every gag, tic, cocked eyebrow and wry intonation arriving bang on cue". And it is nowhere near enough to make up for the deficiencies of Simon's play, which is dated, predictable and "decidedly creaky".
Still, no one is really here for the play. "This is the kind of production where the audience applauds the set", and they go wild when the stars come on. Parker fans may think it is worth the entry price. Everyone else should save their money.
Savoy Theatre, London WC2 (thesavoytheatre.com). Until 13 April Running time: 2hrs 20mins ★★★
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