Marc Shaiman Will Write Original Music For Revival of PLAZA SUITE Starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker

Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, and Hal Luftig announced today that Tony Award® winner Marc Shaiman will write original music for the recently announced production of Neil Simon's comedic play about marriage, Plaza Suite, starring two-time Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick and two-time Emmy Award® winner Sarah Jessica Parker, directed by Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey.

Director John Benjamin Hickey said, "In terms of beloved New York icons, Marc is right up there with... well... with Neil Simon, Matthew Broderick, and Sarah Jessica Parker. To have Marc, our dear friend, writing music for this play that celebrates love and marriage in New York City is a dream come true."

As previously announced, Plaza Suite will play a strictly limited 17-week Broadway engagement at Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street), with previews beginning March 13, 2020 and an official opening night set for April 13, 2020. Plaza Suite will mark the first time Broderick and Parker will share a Broadway stage since the 1995 revival of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Marc Shaiman teased this announcement this morning via his Instagram:

This event will also mark Broderick's return to the words of Neil Simon, having won his first Tony Award for creating the role of Eugene Jerome in Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, followed by its sequel, Biloxi Blues.

Prior to coming to New York, in a move reminiscent of the golden age of Broadway when stars would take plays out of town, Broderick and Parker will travel with the production to Boston for a strictly limited 22-performance pre-Broadway engagement at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, the same theater where Plaza Suite had its 1968 world premiere and in 1976, Parker made her Boston stage debut as Flora in the pre-Broadway engagement of The Innocents.

Two world-class actors play three hilarious couples in this uproarious and piercing look at love and marriage from legendary playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Neil Simon. This new production will mark the first revival of a Neil Simon play following his passing August 2018 at the age 91. He is remembered as one of the most celebrated, successful, and beloved writers in Broadway history having written more than 30 plays and musicals.

When Plaza Suite first opened on Broadway in 1968, directed by Mike Nichols and starring George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton, it ran for nearly three years and played a total of 1,097 performances. Simon and Stapleton were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, respectively, while Nichols won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. In 1971, Simon adapted the play for a big screen adaptation starring Walter Matthau, Stapleton, Barbara Harris, and Lee Grant. In 1982, HBO broadcast a taping of a live stage performance of Plaza Suite starring Lee Grant and Jerry Orbach. In 1987, Carol Burnett opposite Hal Holbrook, Dabney Coleman, and Richard Crenna starred in a television movie adaptation of the play co-directed by Roger Beatty and Kenny Solms.

In addition to Shaiman, the design team for Plaza Suite features two-time Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty (set design), Tony Award winner Jane Greenwood (costume design), five-time Tony Award winner Brian MacDevitt (lighting design), Tony Award winner Scott Lehrer (sound design), and Jim Carnahan (casting director). Plaza Suite is general managed by 101 Productions, Ltd.

Complete casting for Plaza Suite, will be announced shortly. For tickets and additional information, please visit www.plazasuitebroadway.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos