Sarah Jessica Parker and Jonathan Groff Toast the Start of the Broadway Season—and the Undersung Work of New 42 Studios
On Monday afternoon, Sarah Jessica Parker—former star of Annie, Once Upon a Mattress, and Plaza Suite—re-confirmed her devotion to the Great White Way by joining Tony-winning actor Jonathan Groff to co-chair a lavish luncheon celebrating the 25th anniversary of New 42 Studios, a bustling rehearsal space in New York City where over 1,500 productions, including Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and The Producers, have been prepared.
“I’m here as somebody that has been the beneficiary of every single thing that this building has offered,” said Parker during the lunch, held at New 42 Studios at 229 West 42nd Street and attended by many of Broadway’s most renowned actors, directors, producers and writers. “I have come to support friends in workshops, I have picked people up after auditions that have gone well and have gone very poorly, and I have dropped off lunch to a special certain person in my life”—this, a nod to her husband, Matthew Broderick, another Broadway vet—“who has spent a lot of years not at home, but in this building.”
Since its opening in 2000, New 42 has been where many beloved Broadway shows have come to life. Before a world-class production moves into its theater, performers are at New 42’s 10-story complex workshopping, crafting, or prepping in one of the 14 rehearsal studios. The building is run by a nonprofit and the money earned from studio rentals directly supports outreach and community programs for young people. As the largest provider of live performance arts to New York City public schools, New 42—under the leadership of president and CEO Russell Granet and board chairman Henry Tisch—offers tens of thousands of youngsters theatrical experiences every year at the New Victory Theater, a venue dedicated solely to producing shows for children and families.
That program has even enriched Parker’s family: She and Broderick brought their son, James Wilkie, to a production when he was barely a toddler. “Our lives as parents changed. We became completely devoted to everything that the New Victory was offering,” said Parker, who is a member of the organization’s Artist Council. “I think in many ways that kind of committed attendance and the joy of being an audience at the New Victory changed the course of our son’s life and eventually all of our children’s lives.”
New 42 Studios is also a meaningful place for Groff. From his 2005 Broadway debut, in the musical In My Life, and his breakout role in the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening to his comedic portrayal of King George III in Hamilton and his Tony-winning performance in Merrily We Roll Along, “I’ve pretty much rehearsed every Broadway show that I’ve ever done here,” he told Vogue. “It’s really special to get off the subway today and walk over to this event and be in this building. I felt the butterflies from 21 years ago again inside of me. It’s the feeling of being painfully excited, and that’s what I remember as I walked up into this space today.”
Groff also knows firsthand why being exposed to arts early on is important: He remembered his parents letting him dress up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz at age four and putting on a production with his brother and friends at his dad’s horse farm. “That creativity and the ability to express yourself, especially when you’re a young kid, is everything,” he said. “Putting on plays as a kid, those are the most fond memories that I have, and it’s the way we learn how to communicate with each other, collaborate with each other, and express our emotions. So, the more theater is available to people, especially at a young age, it’s essential. I found something that I was actually passionate about early on, and it changed the whole course of my life.”
Longtime stage actor Claybourne Elder—recently seen as John Adams in The Gilded Age—recalled a “horrible” audition experience at New 42 Studios when he tried out for a part in The Last Ship, a musical created by Sting. “I dropped something and while picking it up, I hit the back of my head on a desk. Sting was there, and I was like, I’m not going to get this job,” Elder said, laughing, during a red carpet interview. “That’s one of the worst I’ve had in this building. I was just embarrassed!”
The festivities officially began with a parade of Broadway community members streaming into the third-floor studio of the New 42 building for cocktails. Cynthia Nixon, another member of the New 42 Artist Council, caught up with her Gilded Age costars Elder and Celia Keenan-Bolger. Nearby, Parker shared big laughs with Marc Shaiman, the composer for the musical Hairspray, and lyricist Scott Wittman, while Groff mingled with Bee Carrozzini near the bar. Soon, Erik Bottcher, a New York City Council Member representing the Times Square neighborhood, announced that the city is investing millions of dollars into New 42 and other studios.
“In the face of federal cutbacks and an assault on the arts, we are not going to cut back on the arts,” Bottcher said. “We are doubling down on the arts and investing in Broadway. This is why we live in New York City. We have access to the best arts and culture on planet earth. When you walk into New 42, you know you’re never going to live anywhere else.”
As the luncheon portion of the afternoon began, the 120 guests moseyed across the sprawling room—the exact space where the cast of Hamilton once gathered for rehearsals—now transformed into a lively dining room with three long tables decorated with yellow rattan runners and vases filled with hydrangeas, roses, calla lilies, and other seasonal flowers in a color scheme of whites, greens, and yellow. (The intimate setup was inspired by MGM Studios’ opulent 25th-anniversary party in 1949.) Before guests tucked into their poached halibut with quinoa and melon-cucumber relish, Groff kicked off the lunch with a toast, calling New 42 “a place where we can return to, and feel vulnerability and the possibilities when the show still belongs to the artists and is not yet shared with the world.”