Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite – Upper Canada Playhouse The Montrealer August 18, 2018 3013 Audiences get triple the entertainment in The Playhouse’s upcoming production of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite running through 26. The play, a co-production between The Playhouse and Orillia Opera House, is actually 3 plays with one major thing in common. They all take place in the same suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City in the late 1960’s. We get a sneak peek into the lives of three different couples who rent this suite at three different times. There’s a couple whose marriage is in trouble who rent the suite they honeymooned in decades ago. Next a guy with three failed marriages tries to re-connect with his former sweetheart. Then we meet frustrated parents who fight about how to get their daughter out of the bathroom and downstairs to her wedding. But the three stories actually have a lot more in common than just the location. They’re all hilarious, witty and engaging with a good deal to say about love and marriage. Plaza Suite is vintage Neil Simon as it aims a comic lens at life itself with characters and situations that are relatable and highly entertaining. It’s also filled with charm and nostalgia as it takes audiences back to the 60’s where life seemed simpler. But as the lights come up on each couple, we see that life was never simple and we are soon plunged into the hilarity and ups and downs of their stories. Viviana Zarrillo and Nigel Hamer play all three couples in this Playhouse comedy. In the first scene they play a married couple celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary. He is distant, burying himself in work as she reaches out to him to try and rekindle their lost affection. In the next scene Hamer is a jaded Hollywood producer and Zarrillo his naïve ex-girlfriend from high school. She is wide-eyed and star-struck, he is self-serving and manipulative as they try to rekindle the past. In the final story the duo play a husband and wife trying to deal with a daughter who won’t emerge from the bathroom on her wedding day. There’s lots of good old-fashioned physical comedy as the couple desperately try to stop the perfect and expensive wedding from going down the drain. Artistic Director Donnie Bowes recently caught the production in Orillia and was impressed and excited to have Playhouse audiences see it. ‘It’s a terrific show from top to bottom. Each of the three scenes pulls you right in. Like all great shows, they take you to places you don’t want to leave because you’re having such a great time there. A classy and very funny show.’ Plaza Suite is directed by Orillia Opera House Artistic Director Jesse Collins who has directed such Playhouse hits as The Affections of May, Bedtime Stories, The Ladies Foursome and last season’s Halfway There. He also created and directed The Playhouse’s Dean and Jerry: What Might Have Been, which makes a return engagement here in October. Collins was also nominated for an EMMY for his direction of Zoboomafoo on PBS. ‘Jesse has always delivered a great show to Playhouse audiences,’ added Bowes. ‘And Plaza Suite is no exception.’ When audiences check in to the Plaza at The Playhouse they’re in for a hilarious night. By the time they check out, they’ll have experienced first-hand the stories, characters, laughs, joys, sorrows and surprises that come to life in this classic Neil Simon hit. Plaza Suite plays until August 26. It’s followed by Norm Foster’s The Great Kooshog Lake Hollis McCauley Fishing Derby September 6-30. Shows Tue/Wed/Thu/Sat/Sun at 2PM; Thu/Fri/Sat at 8PM. For tickets please visit: www.uppercanadaplayhouse.com