Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)

You can now book a ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ suite at the Plaza Hotel

- MARINA STANLEY

CITY dwellers may be craving a return to 2019-like normalcy, but for visitors to Manhattan it will soon be possible to rewind the clock much further: to the early 1960s.

That’s courtesy of the storied Plaza Hotel and Amazon Prime Video, which are teaming up to recreate aspects of the hit show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

The Emmy award-winning comedy is streaming its fourth season on Amazon Prime. Although the hotel itself is not prominentl­y featured in the show, a suite on its 12th floor has been converted into a replica of main character Midge Maise’s Upper West Side apartment.

The room at the historic Plaza on Fifth Avenue is filled with mid-century art, antiques, and furniture similar to those sourced by the show’s designers; the dark wooden, carved headboard is an exact replica of the one on set.

Perhaps most enticing will be the closet, loaded with such Midge-inspired outfits as her signature wide-lapel wool coats and pearl jewellery, which guests can wear and purchase on site.

Overnights, available from February 10 to April 10, will start at $1675 (about R25 000), reflecting nearly a 50% premium over the Plaza’s one-bedroom suites.

The rates include a themed afternoon tea menu and Midge-inspired blowout from the hotel salon.

For the the Plaza, the partnershi­p comes at a good time. The 115-year-old hotel has struggled to regain footing after being acquired by Qatari sovereign wealth fund Katara Hospitalit­y for $600 million in June 2018 and subsequent­ly closing for a year amid the pandemic.

And themed suites have historical­ly represente­d good business for the property: According to Crystal Laurence, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, its 10-year-old Eloise suite has seen such consistent, year-round demand that it’s become one of the hotel's signatures.

Amazon and the Plaza are hoping to generate buzz beyond the suite with additional offerings that can bring in a local crowd. Some of the show’s costumes and props, including one of Midge’s gold handbags and a pair of her long, green, leather gloves, are on display in glass showcases throughout the hotel lobby.

And a special riff on the Plaza’s signature Afternoon Tea, from $99 a person, includes black-and-white cookie-inspired macarons and gussied-up pastrami finger sandwiches that pay homage to Midge's ’60s Jewish New York. |

 ?? ?? STRAIGHT out of season four, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Suite at The Plaza is inspired by Midge Maisel’s freshly decorated Upper West Side apartment. Midge’s aesthetic comes to life in the Suite, with marvelous furnishing­s and antiques and accoutreme­nts sourced directly from the ’50s & ’60s.
STRAIGHT out of season four, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Suite at The Plaza is inspired by Midge Maisel’s freshly decorated Upper West Side apartment. Midge’s aesthetic comes to life in the Suite, with marvelous furnishing­s and antiques and accoutreme­nts sourced directly from the ’50s & ’60s.

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