A corny old play – but SJP dazzles her fans
Plaza Suite
Savoy Theatre, London Until April 13, 2hrs 30mins
The King And I
Dominion Theatre, London Until March 2, 2hrs 55mins
Sarah Jessica Parker is the big event in this show, and boy has she got fans. When she comes on there’s applause. She gets another round with just a change of frock. This was not fake clapping from a claque of friends and industry suck-ups. These are people who adore her as Carrie Bradshaw (of Sex And The City fame) and who’ve shelled out big time for this sumptuous, imported Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s 1968 three-part comedy, each section involving a different couple in Suite 719 of New York’s landmark Plaza hotel.
The novelty here is that she is playing opposite her real-life husband Matthew Broderick. She upstages him in each section. Being a gent, he doesn’t seem to mind. In fact he’s so laid back I thought he had concussion.
In the first section,
Parker’s kooky wife is celebrating her wedding anniversary with her aloof businessman husband, who invites his secretary over for, he says, work purposes. If this was written now she’d surely smack him in the chops, kick him out and order up a burger.
Instead we get lots of corny patter, a soupcon of tragedy, but no fireworks. In the next part, Broderick returns as a successful film producer. In Austin Powers casual wear! He’s a big shot, meeting up with an old highschool flame. She’s married with three kids and hoovering up vodka stingers in a sweat of nerves. She is turned on by his Hollywood contacts, so he drops names by the ton. His hands wander. It’s a bit weird – creepy even.
The final segment sees the parents of a bride, both in wedding gear, trying to prise their daughter out of a locked bathroom. Why? She doesn’t want to end up like her bickering mother. In Neil Simon’s world, women are dopes and marriage is a war of attrition. The physical business in this section is great – Broderick finally breaks sweat as he barges through the door and goes nuts.
But nothing hides the fact that this old play is far from Simon’s best work. The evening’s redeeming asset is the effervescent Parker, a star who shines brightly enough to keep her fans happy and her husband in his place.
The King And I is a Rolls-Royce affair – a revived Broadway production that has been out on a UK tour – directed by Bartlett Sher. It stars Helen George, aka Trixie in Call The Midwife, who delivers songs instead of babies. She has a good voice, a confident delivery, with a glint in the eye as the governess Anna. Darren Lee rightly kicks over the traces of Yul Brynner as the crusty king with a kind heart.
It all looks stunning, costumed to the nines, fabulously lit, and with gorgeous hits such as I Whistle A Happy Tune and Shall We Dance? The fleet of tiny tots adds to the aah! factor. Cezarah Bonner’s Lady Thiang singing Something Wonderful is exceptional.
So, too, is Marienella Phillips as Tuptim, whose presentation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin comes with amazing choreography from Christopher Gattelli, who has retooled the original by Jerome Robbins.
Like all Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work, the show’s generosity of heart is beyond any serious reproach. Wokesters, though, will still blanch at this 1951 show’s dated racial politics and colonial attitudes. To modern eyes it now seems more relatable as a battle of the sexes. It’s the crinolined widow Anna’s courage in standing up to this man-child monarch that gives the story its one spark of contemporary relevance amid all the oriental bowing and scraping.
Not that anyone cares about relevance. Audiences will enjoy it for what it is – a golden-era Broadway show with a giant Buddha, an entire steam boat and an orchestra that fills this barn of a theatre with Richard Rodgers’ soaring, melodic music.
A bit slow to ignite but it’s a lush evening from top to toe.