It’s a daunting prospect, coming back to the stage after a prolonged absence. For Sarah Jessica Parker — a multi-award-winning, internationally renowned star of a television series that defined a generation — the pressure was on. Not only was Amanda Peet’s The Commons of Pensacola the first theatrical job Parker took on in 12 years, but it was an untested play receiving its world premiere via the esteemed off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club (at New York City Center – Stage I).
It’s easy to see why the piece would be attractive to an actress of Parker’s caliber. Her character, Becca, is a juicy one: the grown daughter of a Madoff-like businessman and his possibly complicit wife (played by Blythe Danner), who must come to terms with her family’s situation. Not only that, but it was the opportunity, after 18 years, to reunite with Danner, an actress whose praises Parker is elated to sing; the two had last appeared onstage together in MTC’s 1995 production of Sylvia.
As her extended and extended-again run in The Commons of Pensacola comes to a close on February 9, TheaterMania chatted with Parker about her off-Broadway return, her offstage love of her onstage mama, and her own family’s place in dictating the jobs she takes.
What was it that attracted you to the piece and the character?
The challenge of it every night — trying to figure out a person who seems rather uncomplicated, who proves very quickly to be not only very complicated, but in real despair…rudderless, at sea, lost, and really perfecting the sort of mediocrity that is pretty paralyzing.You have a long history with Manhattan Theatre Club. How does it feel to be back performing on one of its stages again?
It’s wonderful. This is the fourth time I worked there. I did my first play there in 1978. Obviously I have affection for [Artistic Director] Lynne [Meadow] and [Executive Producer] Barry [Grove]. I’ve had successful experiences there and less successful experiences there, but I certainly feel that it’s a home of sorts.The concept of this play seems very topical — ripped from the headlines, even. But then it delves a lot deeper.
I think the headlines are a mere jumping-off point, they’re really rather peripheral very quickly. In many ways it’s really less related to headlines than to familial complexity. What it’s about is a mother and a daughter. How do parents love and how are children disappointed by that love? When do we recognize our own complicity in our disappointments? At what age do you step into adulthood and no longer have the opportunity? Coming to terms with favoritism in a family. I think that’s what people connect to in the play. They enjoy the conversation of what would you do? But what we find most impactful is the despair, and the attempts at love that are missed. That’s what we hear people blowing their nose over every night.You and Blythe have such a palpable chemistry on stage, and you’ve worked together before, at MTC, on Sylvia. How did you go about forming a mother-daughter bond?
We didn’t plot any path. I really wanted her to do this…I just love her. I begged her to do a table read just to consider it. I hold her in very high regard. When I did Sylvia, I genuinely fell in love with her. When she left — she couldn’t extend — and when that play was extended, on the first day she was gone, I literally turned upstage and was just weeping, missing her. A lot of people who play opposite each other and have to illustrate love don’t love each other. It’s not our job to plot out how to be affectionate; we’re supposed to tell the story and whether or not we feel that is immaterial. It just so happens we do. [laughs]What have the audiences been like? I know a lot of young people who don’t usually see theater who have gone to see the play, owing to your being in it.
We’ve had really wonderful, generous, very demonstrative audiences. Lots of people of all different ages from all over the world have been coming. We have people who’ve said to us, “I’ve never seen a play before.” People with wonderful accents from Australia and Peru and Scotland and Germany. Some of them have made the trip to see the play and built a week around it. The [show] plays differently at night because they’re a different audience. [But] I’ll say this about the seniors [audience members]: They have kept that theater alive and I’m enormously grateful to their dedication. They’re deeply committed, loyal, and thoughtful. I’m really delighted with the audiences we’ve had to play for.Do you think that performing off-Broadway is a less pressure-filled environment than, say, if you were doing this on Broadway?
I think I have felt an appropriate amount of pressure because the role is so challenging. I don’t know that I would have distinguished it differently from one venue to the other. The pressure one feels about the role is the most important thing. Not the pressure — the challenge of fulfilling an opportunity. I think I like the fact that we were on this stage, so we could extend. They wanted to move the play to Broadway but there are no theaters available at this late date that would be suitable. It’s a little disappointing for us, because it’s such a marvelous piece and it seems to be making such a connection with audiences. But I don’t know that it would be different one way or the other. The pressure that I put on myself seems as pregnant as it could have been. [laughs] I don’t know how much more pressure I could have felt elsewhere.If they came to you next season and asked you to move with it to Broadway, would you?
I don’t know how all that works…I wonder about momentum. Also, we all have these other things that were obligated to. Getting everybody back together might be complicated.Has this experience whet your appetite for more stage work?
This was extraordinary, and I have loved it, even at my most terrified moments. But it has been challenging for my children. I’ve been gone at times they’ve been very accustomed to me being with them. It sounds like not a big deal but it has proved to be a big deal for them.They’re young, that’s understandable.
My son is much more circumspect about it, but my daughters who are four-and-a-half are not particularly amused by my absence. Every time it’s been extended and that date has changed on the calendar has been a little bit of a hardship for them. I have to think about that. Movies and television are slightly different, because you can shoot during the day and be home at night for bedtime. Bedtime is really important to them and it’s important to me. So I have to figure it out. I would certainly like to and I’ve just recently read another great play, but I have to think about how it fits into my family’s life.
Sarah Jessica Parker is a fashion icon. But the “Sex and the City” star, 48, admits to ABC News that her twin daughters Marion and Tabitha, both 4, don’t need or even want fashion advice from their mother.
“They are their own people, for the last two and half years, they have dressed themselves,” she told ABC at her launch for a Hallmark greeting card line. “Monday through Friday, they pick their own clothes.”
Parker said the only time she gets to help is “on the weekends if there is a special occasion, then I get a say in it.”
One would think that girls that have dressed themselves since they were 2 years old would result is some pretty creative, outrageous outfits and Parker agreed that’s exactly what’s happened.
“Of course!” she said. “But it’s not hurting anybody for them to express themselves that way and it’s fine. For school, whatever makes them feel good and heard is fine.”
In fact, the girls don’t even indulge in their mother’s closet, which must be a treasure trove of amazing items.
“They are interested in it for a minute then they lose interest just as quickly.”
One thing she has passed on to her children is her love for sending thoughtful notes.
“You send a note of gratitude, you send a note to say ‘Thank you,’ you send a note to check in with someone,” she said of her new card line.
She added that her children “cannot email ‘Thank yous.'” They have to sit, down, fill out a card and send it.
“Often my husband will say to me, ‘What do you want for a holiday or a birthday?’ and I’ll say ‘Really what I really want is a note, because that I will have forever,'” she said at her launch.
Sarah Jessica Parker is known for her poise and grace both onscreen and off, so it should come as no surprise teaching her kids to be polite is a top priority for this parent.
“My daughters write thank you notes, and they’re just learning to read and be able to spell,” the actress told PEOPLE of her 4-year-old twins Tabitha and Loretta, while attending Thursday’s launch of her namesake collection for Hallmark.
“It takes a significant amount of time just to do one, and they need a lot of adult supervision.”
While the girls “aren’t required to do as much” as their big brother, James Wilkie, 11, Parker adds, “eventually they will be expected to share their appreciation with someone.”
When they’re not learning the importance of please and thank you, the twins are expressing themselves in other ways. “They’re all preternaturally gifted artists — they probably spend 80 percent of their free time drawing,” the proud mom says.
“Every morning before breakfast, we have to drag them away from drawing and painting, even my son. They’re far more gifted than I ever was.”
The Sex and the City star, 48, says her family likes to channel that creativity into homemade cards. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, friends and family can expect some hand-crafted holiday greetings.
“Since I was a little girl, we were not allowed to buy valentines, and my children do the same thing — a piece of cardboard from tights or pantyhose, they have to cut out their own construction paper, cut out their own doilies. We do it every year.”
So does Parker have a favorite piece of art hanging on the refrigerator? “You can’t pick a favorite when you have three kids!”
I’ve added scans of Sarah from next months issue of O magazine. You can check out the images in here.
America’s sweetheart Sarah Jessica Parker is releasing her own shoe line with shoe maven Manolo Blahnik, and it has been deemed practical, budget-friendly, and uber-fashionable.
Featuring elegant T-straps, edgy booties, cute flats, and fashionable pumps, the shoes will cost between $195 and $485. ”Those are hard-earned bucks so I really tried to give women beautiful silhouettes and colors and excellent quality for their money,” said Parker to O magazine. The mom of three and wife of actor Matthew Broderick adds a special, unique personal touch to each pair, with a ribbon stitch on the back of the heel.
Parker pays homage to Carrie Bradshaw, her character muse from the ”Sex And The City” franchise, by naming a nude, T-strap heel after the fashionable New York writer. “The Lady,” a classic, brightly-hued pump is also a staple in the collection. “This shoe is polite and old-fashioned,” she said. “It suits a wide range of women with its simple silhouette.”
Carrie was a huge fan of shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, so it was only right to collaborate for Carrie’s huge fan base of women. “Sarah called me and said she’d been thinking a lot about shoes. Before she could finish that sentence, I said, ‘Be in my office tomorrow morning,” said Blahnik CEO George Malkemus to O.
The fashion designer and perfume creator will release her line in a pop-up shop, exclusively for Nordstrom’s in New York from February 28 to March 2. Afterwards, pop-up shops will launch in other major cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Seattle.
Source: Uptown Magazine
Hallmark Cards, Inc. introduces the Sarah Jessica Parker Collection, a new offering of greeting cards, stationery and gift wrap, sold exclusively at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores across Canada, to help Canadians celebrate life’s joyous moments and find beauty, meaning and happiness in the little moments in between.
“When you think of Hallmark, you think of kindness and caring. Those are values that are important to me, that reflect the wife, friend and mother I want to be and what I want to help foster in others,” said Sarah Jessica Parker. “I’m excited to be involved in a project that will give people something tangible and fun, warm and sincere, to hold on to and remember the people and relationships that really matter.”
Parker collaborated with the creative team at Hallmark to develop design themes that reflected her personality, often pairing vintage artwork from the Hallmark archives with more modern touches and embellishments, such as gemstones, ribbon and tulle. Parker also helped set the editorial ‘voice’ of the cards — opting for simple, authentic and heartfelt messages.
“Ms. Parker is not just another celebrity. Like many Hallmark shoppers, she is a very busy wife and mother who cherishes and celebrates the important relationships in her life,” said Jack Moore, president, Hallmark Gold Crown . “Through this partnership, we are able to combine Hallmark’s expertise in meaningful connections with Sarah Jessica Parker’s unique, bold and modern aesthetic to create a truly gorgeous, timeless collection for today’s woman, and we are excited to offer it to our customers, exclusively at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores.”
The Sarah Jessica Parker Collection includes more than 70 cards for birthday, friendship, love, thank you, congratulations, wedding and baby. Ranging from $4.99 – $7.99, the cards feature rich paper stocks with unique combinations of patterns, illustrations, photography and calligraphy – much of which Hallmark artists created specifically for these cards. The line also includes note cards, gift bags and boxes, and stationery in two coordinated collections.
The collection is available exclusively at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores this month. In addition, seasonal collections will be available for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Graduation in 2014. Visit www.hallmark.ca for more information and store locations.
Source: News Wire
Sarah Jessica Parker has landed herself yet another gig in the fashion industry, this time for WeTheAdorned. Women’s Wear Daily reports that WeTheAdorned, a new jewelry e-commerce venture, has enlisted the “Sex and the City” alumna as a curator for its site, which is set to launch this spring.
The exclusive site will charge an initial fee to members, who can then gain access to high-end jewelry designed exclusively for WeTheAdorned. Designers will include fashion faves like Dannijo, Fenton and Fallon, Erickson Beamon and Pamela Love — but at this point, we’d imagine getting your jewelry picked out for you by Carrie Bradshaw of the famous nameplate necklace is enough of a draw.
But it’s anyone’s call whether WeTheAdorned will work or not. Since her “SATC” days, Parker has embraced a grab bag of fashion gigs, each more random than the next. The actress is about to launch her new shoe line, SJP, created in partnership with George Malkemus, president of Manolo Blahnik USA, which, judging by the buzz around it, is already on track to become a big hit.
Hey everybody! I am working hard to get all the sections in the photo gallery up-to-date. I have been working on the photoshoots section of the photo gallery and I have updated the gallery with 70 photoshoot photos of Sarah Jessica from 2011 through 2014. I am sure there are more photoshoots to be uploaded in those years, but this is just a start. I hope you enjoy and keep checking back for more updates!
P.S. I am currently re-organizing the photoshoots into years. So if that category looks messy, you know why.
Gallery Links
Studio Photoshoots > Photoshoots from 2011
Studio Photoshoots > Photoshoots from 2012
Studio Photoshoots > Photoshoots from 2013
Studio Photoshoots > Photoshoots from 2014
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