Room 719 of Manhattan's former Plaza Hotel plays host to Neil Simon's three-act "Plaza Suite" as staged by the Eclipse Theater Company. With old-gold carpeting, avocado wallpaper and matching bedspread, the room has all the trappings of the late 1960s, which is when the play is set.
In all of the acts, couples at various stages of marital unhappiness are examined. A woman thrilled to be celebrating her 22nd wedding anniversary gets a shock when her husband reveals he may have been up to no good; an unhappy New Jersey housewife considers rekindling a romance with her former high-school sweetheart; and a constantly bickering couple consider their child-rearing shortcomings as their bride-to-be daughter locks herself away in the bathroom on her wedding day.
All of Plaza Suite's female leads deliver convincing performances with exact comic timing. All three are fun to watch—Karen (CeCe Klinger) is self-assured and accepts life's challenges without fuss; Muriel (Frances Wilkerson) is still quite unsure of herself and can't make up her mind if she is doing the right thing; and Norma (Cheri Chenowith), as a dithering mother-of-the-bride and suitable foil to her bombastic husband. Jon Steinhagen as Norma's husband Roy also takes to the physicality that his character requires admirably, wavering between maniacal moments equally as calm ones.
The costume design by Joel Ebarb offers a great send-up of late-'60s fashions, and hairstyles—we see a bit of Mary Tyler Moore mixed among Bewitched's Endorra among the cast. With scenic design by Mike Winkelman, the suite's décor doesn't change, but it doesn't need to. The time-jumps are easily followed with the introduction of new characters, some of whom fling open the windows and let the sounds of Manhattan's busy streets into the theater.
Eclipse's staging of "Plaza Suite" is funny and engaging from beginning to end. Simon's witty dialogue poking fun at marital strife leads us to believe that since the play was first produced in the late-1960s, the institution of marriage certainly hasn't gotten any better. As relevant as ever, this play forces us to examine whether anyone is truly happy after many years of marriage, or if everyone just gets better at disguising their unhappiness.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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