Though I’ve grown to have a vague dislike of both Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker as people, I still think they’re gifted actors. SJP does her thing with the Sex and the City films and that’s her niche, while Matthew Broderick seems content to be a film and television character actor and a respected stage actor. I sometimes forget just how good Broderick is – but I love him in some of his smaller roles, like his guest appearance on 30 Rock a few years ago, and his supporting performance in You Can Count On Me. So, given that, this latest news is disappointing.
According to Gatecrasher, Broderick has been sucking hard during the previews for his latest play, The Starry Messenger. Apparently, Broderick was completely unprepared during the previews, and he repeatedly flubbed his lines and stopped the play. Paying audience members left the play in droves, and the opening has even been pushed back:
Theatergoers must have wanted to “shoot the messenger” during the first preview of Matthew Broderick’s new play on Monday night. The Broadway veteran put on such a poor showing at “The Starry Messenger” that some fans left in a huff.
Producers may have taken notice of the subpar performance, too: they announced yesterday afternoon that the show will officially open a week later than planned, on Nov. 23.
The reason for all the fuss? Broderick clearly wasn’t prepared for the preview, and had to stop the play to ask for his lines numerous times during the show. And not that anyone’s counting, but, well, okay, they are: An audience member confirms Broderick flubbed 10 times in the first act alone.
A theater insider tells us that Broderick – who has starred in “The Producers,” “The Foreigner” and “The Philanthropist,” among others – is notorious for studying scripts late in the game. But fans weren’t very forgiving after Monday’s performance. Several members of the audience took to talkinbroadway.com, a theater Web site used by Broadway regulars, to air their grievances.
“Broderick should be fined for this sort of thing,” one angry user wrote. “The theater, the producers, Kenneth Lonergan (the director) and Broderick should be ashamed to have let an audience in for this.”
Another Broadway fan who hadn’t even seen the show chimed in: “For God’s sake, they are charging good money for this, and it is indeed unconscionable to use these as rehearsals. I only hope they do cancel this week of performances because I, too, have a ticket, and I don’t want to endure this either.”
Perhaps audience members were being a bit harsh. It was just a preview, after all, and a source close to the show says that a recent casting change may have led to the play’s rocky start. Merwin Goldsmith replaced Jonathan Hadary just this past weekend.
But our insider says Broderick’s flubs were more than just a few butchered lines. “It was an overall mess,” said the source. “He kept apologizing under his breath after he forgot a line, and everyone in the audience started to feel awkward.”
It’s a bad start for Broderick and his “Starry Messenger” run, which comes right after some unkind critical notices for Sarah Jessica Parker’s hubby. Several outlets panned his performance in “The Philanthropist,” which ran from April to June. While one review commented on his “dullness,” others even got a little personal, dissing the sideburns he grew for the part.
[From Gatecrasher]
Ugh… if I paid for a ticket, I would be totally pissed too. What’s up with Broderick? Too many late nights staying up with the new twins? We know that barely two months after their twin girls were brought home, SJP went to work on SATC 2, working hellish hours as both the star and producer. While some suspect that the nannies are pretty much raising those babies now, some thought that Matthew was probably picking up the baby-bonding slack. But he signed on for this play knowing that SJP was still at work on SATC. I’m going to go relatively easy on Matthew and say that his lack of professionalism is probably due to the new babies and he’s simply exhausted.
Actually, I am weird I suppose, I would LOVE to go to a play where someone like Broderick continually flubbed his lines. I would PAY to see it!
^^me too! If I had too much money.
In his defense, the play is still in previews so the playwright could be changing the script on a daily basis, thus the flubbed lines.
If SJP got pregnant on a whim, then I would feel bad about Brodericks exhaustion, but since this was a planned surrogate pregnancy and they both had plenty of time to rearrange their schedules, then I do not fell bad one bit about his exhaustion or her lack of parenting.
Its not like they are 9-5 ers and put their life savings into a surrogate pregnancy, they are both millionares and could have taken years off to tend to their twins.
COME ON, let’s say it together: “Buehler? Buehler?”
He looks like a man who is more comfortable on stage/screen than in real life.
While last minute changes/studying, exhaustion, etc. are the excuses, I mean, reasons this time, what about the bad reviews of the other play?
Actually, I have to agree with Firestarter. I might find that more entertaining than actually watching Matthew Broderick act. I don’t dislike him, but I never found him very interesting.
What a pain. I’m sure that usually “previews” are a lot less flubby than this. If I had paid good money for a ticket, I would’ve been irritated and probably would’ve left too.
Having worked in theater before, it is cringe-worthy to watch another actor go through this sort of thing, and there are many reasons why this happens, uprepared to writing changes, blocking changes etc etc. However…. schadenfruede makes me giggle 🙂
He should pull a Piven and declare his bad performance was due to mercury poisoning from eating too much shellfish.
Let’s be honest. They had those babies to prove they weren’t breaking up.
=WARGAMES= Forever.
Broderick has always been hit or miss for me, I saw him years ago in Taller Than a Dwarf and it was dreadful, but I kinda liked him in The Producers. Could always just be one bad performance of a play in previews too.