Two years ago the husband-and-wife actors were set to star in a Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s «Plaza Suite» when COVID-19 shut down theaters. Now, the show is finally set to open, and the stars talk about the unprecedented hiatus.
At the Hudson Theatre in New York City, actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick returned to meet up with «Sunday Morning» anchor Jane Pauley, again. «Isn’t it strange? It’s Groundhog Day!» Parker laughed. Much of the pandemic has felt that way, like our visit with Parker and Broderick, two years ago, at this very spot. Pauley asked, «The two of you have worked together before. But never as husband and wife?» «Never worked like this,» Parker replied. Certainly not «like this.» «When did a troupe of actors on Broadway ever experience having a show, closing down the theater, and two years later coming back? That’s never happened?» Pauley asked. «No, not even close, I don’t think,» said Broderick. Watch Jane Pauley’s 2020 interview with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker: Back in March of 2020, «Plaza Suite» had just arrived on Broadway after a sold-out run in Boston. «We had a very bad flu, which I’m still questioning!» Parker laughed. «I enjoy the mystery of, ‘Was that the flu or was that COVID?'» And just as they were about to begin the first performance,. «We were on this side [of the stage] when they told us the governor said we had 20 minutes to clear out,» Parker recalled. Thinking they’d be back in a couple of weeks, not two years. But in that time honored-tradition, the show must go on. Pauley asked, «Why is that so important?» «It was a priority for both of us,» Parker said. «I mean, sincerely. And as dates were shifting, this play stood kind of in the center of everything.» «And trying to guess patterns of a pandemic are impossible,» Broderick added. In the early days of the pandemic, the couple did what many people at home were doing: «Well, at first I was very like, ‘Well, I’ll make the most of it, and make some beans,'» Broderick said.
