Meet Jordan Berman. He's single. And he has a date with a co-worker to see a documentary about the Franco-Prussian war. At least, he thinks it's a date. Significant Other follows Jordan and his three closest friends as they navigate love, friendship and New York in the twenty-something years.
The Broadway debut of author Joshua Harmon will be complemented by the Broadway debut of rising young director Trip Cullman, who guided the play to its successful off-Broadway engagement.
Significant Other was a NY Times Critic's Pick when it premiered last summer at Roundabout Theatre Company. Charles Isherwood, writing in the New York Times, called it "an entirely delightful new play, as richly funny as it is ultimately heart-stirring."
Significant Other began at Roundabout Theatre Company following the professional debut and world premiere of Joshua Harmon's play Bad Jews at Roundabout Underground's Black Box in fall 2012.
In its 2015 Off-Broadway run, the comedy by Joshua Harmon ('Bad Jews') struck me as 'hilarious, heart-tugging and annoying.' On Broadway at the Booth Theatre, same goes. Hilarity comes from spry, occasionally crude one-liners showcased to the max by the fine cast as well as Trip Cullman's deft direction. Heart-tugging moments arise between Jordan and his age-addled grandmother (Barbara Barrie).
The four central performers chart their characters' fraying ties with a graceful, instinctive grasp of the hierarchies and role playing that occur within such relationships. They're at their most poignantly expressive when they're dancing together (in dwindling numbers) at one another's weddings. (Sam Pinkleton deserves credit as the choreographer.) Mark Wendland's multilevel set nicely evokes the sense of a city of myriad dwelling places, to which people retreat in insulated isolation, whether as pairs or singletons. And John Behlmann and Luke Smith drolly fulfill their purposes as the various men in the central characters' lives. But the play's structure, built around an and-then-there-was-one countdown of weddings, can start to feel like a sustained musical vamp with only slight variations. Though Mr. Glick is very good and, I think, rather brave in following Jordan's path from adorable to irritating, his company does start to pall after a certain point.
2015 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Off-Broadway |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Gideon Glick |
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