On & Off Broadway

‘Significant Other’

Reviewed by ElyseTrevers

Posted

“Life is simple; Find someone to go through it with.” That’s Jordan’s task in Significant Other at the Laura Pels Theatre. His goal becomes especially more crucial when all three of his best friends, self-centered Kiki (Sas Goldberg), down-to-earth Vanessa (Carra Patterson) and nurturing Laura (wonderful Lindsay Mendez) begin finding husbands. Since he’s a gay guy, he’s never even asked to be a bridesmaid; he only gets to read a passage.

At Kiki’s wedding at the beginning of the play, Jordan and the two other girls mock the festivities, the pomp and the music. When Vanessa finds a husband, he and Laura vow to wind up together and have children. Sadly, by the end, Jordan is the only one alone.

As Jordan, Gideon Glick is funny, sad and poignant. He deteriorates emotionally, as he becomes more desperate. Sometimes Glick is overly-histrionic, becoming a stereotypically gay character. Playwright Joshua Harmon juxtaposes him with grandmother Helene, a widow who can easily be distracted by her photo gallery. She muses aloud about how to kill herself as she explains how lonely she is. She is unaware of Jordan’s sexual orientation and constantly asks about his social life. At one point when each of his friends is busy with her mate, Jordan desperately calls his grandmother but hangs up when he realizes how pathetic he has become.


Significant Other is about the need for love and the search for the right one. The fact that Jordan is gay adds another layer and allows for some cheap laughs. When he writes emails, they are lengthy. In one scene, he anguishes over whether to send a long, pathetic message to a work colleague to whom he is attracted. The scene is funny, but also sadly painful. Is Harmon suggesting that much of Jordan’s loneliness is because he is gay? Yet Grandma Helene’s scenes seem to suggest that loneliness knows no age or sex boundaries.

For the most part the play is clever, funny and often witty. Yet it ends with a bitter taste and a feeling of hopelessness. At the end of the play, Laura is getting married and Jordan is alone, smiling through his pain in a pose that is reminiscent of the iconic painting “The Scream” by Edward Munch. The play is extremely entertaining, especially for those who have already found their significant others. However, it may resonate somewhat bitterly with those who haven’t. I’m not sure that they will find it as entertaining.