Red carpet ride

At the age of 64 I finally attended my first red carpet event on Sunday.

Sadly, I didn't walk on the actual carpet, or have my photo taken, but I was very close to it (above).

The occasion was the press night for Plaza Suite, a comedy of marital strife by the late Neil Simon, first performed on Broadway in 1969.

The current production played on Broadway in 2022. Starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker (of Sex In The City fame), it has now transferred to the West End for a short (albeit extended) run at the Savoy Theatre.

The reviews have been largely positive (although critics agree that Plaza Suite is showing its age and is not one of Simon’s best) but the three-act play in which Broderick and Parker (who are married in real life) play three different couples in a series of comic vignettes, is arguably incidental to the production’s success.

From the moment they walk on stage and are greeted with warm applause, it’s clear that the audience, many of whom are surprisingly young (in their twenties and thirties), are happy to just witness Hollywood royalty.

To be fair, this gave the show a buzz I’ve rarely experienced at the theatre. The excited chatter in the auditorium before the curtain rose was significantly louder than normal.

Perhaps this was in anticipation of the after party at the Savoy Hotel next door, for which many people had dressed up, but it certainly felt like an ‘event’.

Earlier, in the 'compact' dress circle bar before the show, we enjoyed a complimentary glass of champagne and indulged in some celebrity spotting. My wife recognised two people, one from Poldark, the other from The Forsyte Saga, while I quickly clocked the Scottish actor Bill Paterson.

I’m told that other VIPs included Sheridan Smith, Arlene Philips, Ralph Fiennes, Hannah Waddingham and many more. I’ll be honest, though. I didn’t see any of them because work commitments meant we had to give the after party a miss.

It was nice to be invited, though, and even better to be given a complimentary seat for a production for which tickets are reported to cost up to £300, or £395 for the premium package.

Now that's what I call inflation.

PS. Talking of Sheridan Smith, the last show we saw at the Savoy Theatre was Legally Blonde The Musical in 2010 starring ... Sheridan Smith.

Before that there was a revival of Carousel in 2008, and long, long ago I saw Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance at the same venue.

As for the The Savoy hotel, who can forget that it was in the ballroom of one of London's most famous hotels that we held our Revolt In Style: A Freedom Dinner, five days before the introduction of the smoking ban in England.

If you're interested, the Telegraph wrote about it here (Huffing and puffing: Adam Edwards joins a pack of rebellious smokers and pipemen for a last-gasp celebration of tobacco at the Savoy).