Matthew Broderick Forced to Move His Broadway Home

Amagansett’s Matthew Broderick was forced to move last week—but not from his and wife Sarah Jessica Parker’s Amagansett hideaway or their Greenwich Village townhouse.

The actor and Hamptons resident had to relocate from the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre with his hit Broadway show It’s Only A Play in order to make way for Helen Mirren and her West End smash The Audience.

Thankfully, the mood was festive to say the least when the cast—Martin Short, Broderick, Stockard Channing, F. Murray Abraham, Katie Finneran, Maulik Pancholy and Micah Stock–had to relocate to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre next door on January 23. With the help of the show’s playwright, Hamptonite Terrence McNally, everyone helped schlep the props, scenery and costumes to their new home.

On the re-opening night,Broderick’s wife, SJP, in a spectacular gold lace dress and shoes from her wildly successful footwear line, joined a host of celebs on the red carpet, including Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Larry David, Hamptonite Regis Philbin, Tyne Daly, Delia Ephron, Joe Franklin (who passed away days later) and Amagansett neighbor Kathleen Turner.

Interestingly for Broadway buffs, the two theaters were named for Gerald Schoenfeld and Bernard B. Jacobs, two of Broadway’s most powerful forces for over four decades, who were collectively known as “The Shuberts.” As heads of The Shubert Organization, the oldest producing in America, they produced scores of hits, including Dreamgirls, Tru, Equus, Passion, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, to name a few. The Shubert Organization also owns and/or operate 17 Broadway theaters in New York City—Ambassador, Barrymore, Belasco, Booth, Broadhurst, Broadway, Cort, Golden, Imperial, Jacobs, Longacre, Lyceum, Majestic, Music Box, Schoenfeld, Shubert, and Winter Garden—and one off-Broadway theater, The Little Shubert.

Outside New York, the Shubert Organization owns both the Shubert Theatre in Boston and the Forrest in Philadelphia.