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.