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.
The reviews had been so positive for the off-Broadway production of Joshua Harmon's Significant Other, that its laureled coronation on Broadway should have been all but assured. But there are so many jarring, derailing elements to this Roundabout Theatre production-about a gay man in his late twenties, confronting loneliness, but not really confronting loneliness convincingly, and therein lies the problem-that the evening merely becomes an extended sequence of his irritating whining. The play's peppy (occasionally extremely funny) comedy ill-balances its very dark heart, which-as the final curtain reveals-is really about one man's terrible isolation. It's Ibsen meets Will and Grace, but-as that show's Jack might screech-'in a bad way.'
Gay characters in mass culture often serve as supportive accessories in the marriage plots of others, but Harmon keeps Jordan in sharp, brutally revealing focus. Anyone whose heart has ever been broken can relate to his plight. Pushing 30, he has never been in a serious relationship, and his desperation to change that-sabotaged by his obsessiveness and awkwardness-only makes things worse. Glick delivers a star-making, gut-wrenching performance of deep sweetness and quicksilver mood shifts; a scene in which he considers sending an intense love email to a handsome coworker is a masterpiece of comic anxiety, and his climactic rant of pent-up resentment earns vigorous applause.
| 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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