The night before the HBO series she spawned reincarnated as And Just Like That at MoMA, Candace Bushnell signals, she has moved on. At the Daryl Roth Theater, she struts across a stage fitted with a hot pink couch and shelves lined with Manolos, recounting a stellar career as columnist, coming from Connecticut, modest suitcase in hand, sleeping around. This “having sex like a man” becomes material, and quite explicit. If you are a fan of Sex & the City, you know what I mean. Miraculously, in her tour de force hour and a half one-woman show—with the exception of a cameo by two dogs, the words “penis” and “vagina” are uttered once each, as Bushnell poses the question, Is There Still Sex in the City? Phone in hand, she converses with her Samantha, her Miranda, and her Charlotte, paragons of wisdom, as she navigates her rise as writer, all the while dumped by lovers including her ballet dancer husband. The men she mentions do not fare well—even her supportive father somehow lets her know her flat chest will get her nowhere in love. An exception is Darren Star, the series showrunner who attended the opening. I caught up with him over a gargantuan urn of guacamole at the Rosa Mexicana afterparty where a Covid test was now the new condom: “Yes, she got it right. She’s honest about Sex & the City and how we got it made. She would not have invited me if she was going to trash me.”
Some of the fun of Is There Still Sex in the City?: Bushnell wriggling out of one dress into the next, one “essential” boot into mules, fashion being of the essence. She wore all gold at the party, a crotch grazing glittery sheath. Her father should have praised her legs. And just like that, her career does in fact have legs whether or not she wins the coveted Pulitzer. She’s now in a smaller space in Sag Harbor, wiggling hula hoops, surrounded by her female posse. Only one is married. Designer
Nicole Miller told me her husband dated Bushnell for years, and he complains his wife’s best friend is his ex. They even shared Thanksgiving, and mock-wondered, how come he wasn’t included in the show. Sipping a Belvedere cosmopolitan, Carrie Bradshaw’s signature drink, Bushnell was pleased this show brought her back to the city.
Brenda Vaccaro, stranger to neither the franchise nor one-woman performances admired Bushnell’s bravery. “She’s genuine and gracious,” said Brenda admiringly. “She could have been snarky but she was not.”
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