After a successful Off-Broadway and Broadway run, Joshua Harmon brings his affecting and hilarious play about finding and lacking love to the Geffen Playhouse. Significant Other follows Jordan, a single, young professional with a close group of female friends who slowly drift away as they each get married while he searches for his own “Mr. Right.” From the writer of the Geffen’s 2015 runaway hit Bad Jews, this New York Times Critics’ Pick revels in the paradox of feeling old when you’re still young and the sometimes-crushing loneliness that comes with growing up. With humor and humanity, Significant Other offers a relatable portrait of twenty-something urban life and the seemingly endless string of weddings that accompany it.
Significant Other
Reviews
A comedy it is, with perfect peformances under the direction of Stephen Brackett, but there is a bit of nostalgia as well.
Director Stephen Brackett brings pace and style to the proceedings. This a very entertaining evening at the theater not to be missed.
Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews revealed a significant new voice in American comedy. A gay romcom whose time has come, Significant Other earns abundant laughter and cheers all its own.
Keilly McQuail and Will Von Vogt are absolutely riveting in Significant Other, Joshua Harmon's mostly funny, sometimes sad take on the pitfalls of being the GBF (gay best friend). Both actors fearlessly explore their characters' self-obsessions so fully and so believably, that behavior and dialogue which might grow irritating, instead stays fresh and urgent.
The glorious new production of Joshua Harmon's play, which opened Wednesday at the Geffen's Gil Cates Theater under the direction of Stephen Brackett, doesn't have to italicize jokes to captivate a large New York crowd concerned about getting its money's worth. I'm happy to report that in L.A. the wittiness of Harmon's vibrant dialogue and the resplendent neuroticism of his characters are all that are required to win us over.
The acting is top notch throughout under Stephen Brackett's sure, steady and non-obtrusive direction.
Significant Other doesn't set its story within this larger social context. Indeed, there's hardly a context at all, except that we know Jordan works at some large company with many employees. Other than his grandma, we don't even know if he has siblings or parents. He doesn't date, he turns down the one offer of sex he receives, he has no hobbies or interests that would bring him into contact with available gay men. He doesn't join a social club or therapy group, or patronize gay venues such as a gym, bars, spas, retreats, ocean cruises, the gay men's chorus, or even the LGBTQ synagogue, where, as the saying goes, “God helps those who help themselves.”
A comedy it is, with perfect peformances under the direction of Stephen Brackett, but there is a bit of nostalgia as well.
Director Stephen Brackett brings pace and style to the proceedings. This a very entertaining evening at the theater not to be missed.
Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews revealed a significant new voice in American comedy. A gay romcom whose time has come, Significant Other earns abundant laughter and cheers all its own.
Keilly McQuail and Will Von Vogt are absolutely riveting in Significant Other, Joshua Harmon's mostly funny, sometimes sad take on the pitfalls of being the GBF (gay best friend). Both actors fearlessly explore their characters' self-obsessions so fully and so believably, that behavior and dialogue which might grow irritating, instead stays fresh and urgent.
The glorious new production of Joshua Harmon's play, which opened Wednesday at the Geffen's Gil Cates Theater under the direction of Stephen Brackett, doesn't have to italicize jokes to captivate a large New York crowd concerned about getting its money's worth. I'm happy to report that in L.A. the wittiness of Harmon's vibrant dialogue and the resplendent neuroticism of his characters are all that are required to win us over.
The acting is top notch throughout under Stephen Brackett's sure, steady and non-obtrusive direction.
Significant Other doesn't set its story within this larger social context. Indeed, there's hardly a context at all, except that we know Jordan works at some large company with many employees. Other than his grandma, we don't even know if he has siblings or parents. He doesn't date, he turns down the one offer of sex he receives, he has no hobbies or interests that would bring him into contact with available gay men. He doesn't join a social club or therapy group, or patronize gay venues such as a gym, bars, spas, retreats, ocean cruises, the gay men's chorus, or even the LGBTQ synagogue, where, as the saying goes, “God helps those who help themselves.”