In April 1957 she debuted on Broadway at the Henry Miller Theatre in "Hotel Paradiso", a French burlesque set in Paris, directed by Peter Glenville. The play only ran for 15 weeks, although she earned good reviews for her role as "Marcel Cat". She later stated that had she not appeared in the play, her "whole career would have fizzled out." She followed this with an appearance in 1960s Broadway performance of "A Taste of Honey" at the Lyceum Theatre, directed by Tony Richardson and George Devine. Lansbury played Helen, the boorish, verbally abusive, otherwise absentee mother of Josephine (played by Joan Plowright, only four years Lansbury's junior), remarking that she gained "a great deal of satisfaction" from the role. During the show's run, Lansbury developed a friendship with Plowright, as well as with Plowright's lover and future husband, Laurence Olivier. It was from Lansbury's rented flat on East 97th Street that Plowright and Olivier eloped to be married.