Significant Other (2017)

“How do you live when you know you’re not living the life that you think you ought to be living?” 

 

This is the question Joshua Harmon asked himself before writing his play Significant Other.   Significant Other is about a Jewish gay man in the last years of his 20s who slowly loses his friends to their marriages. Originally premiering Off-Broadway in 2015 at the Roundabout Theatre Company, Significant Other transferred to Broadway in February 2017. The cast included Gideon Glick, John Behlmann, Sas Goldberg, Lindsay Mendez, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Luke Smith, and Barbara Barrie.

 

“Jordan is the quintessential gay, neurotic, 20-something Jew in New York City.”

 

 

Plot:

 

Set in present-day New York City, the play’s main protagonist is Jordan Berman, an insecure Jewish gay man who is convinced he will die alone. Meanwhile, his three best girl friends, Kiki, Vanessa, Laura, each get engaged and then married while Jordan remains hopelessly single. Other players in his life include his crush, Will, his grandmother, Helene and his work acquaintance, Evan. The scenes in Significant Other often overlap, Jordan seamlessly going from talking to his grandmother to talking to Laura in the same moment. Often, scenes are presented as flashback vignettes.

 

The play is structured around the three weddings of Jordan’s friends, opening with the bachelorette party of Kiki and closing with Laura’s wedding. Jordan orbits his friends and their love lives, dealing with a work crush and a crippling loneliness. On a trip to the Museum of Modern Art with Vanessa, Jordan reveals how madly in love he is with Will, the new guy at work, after seeing him at a company pool party. Jordan’s obsessive tendencies get the better of him, and though worried about him, his friends encourage him to ask Will on a date. Jordan invites Will to see a documentary about the Franco-Prussian war after noticing that Will is a history buff but after, Jordan is unclear where he stands with Will. Against his better judgement and clear instruction from his friends to not, Jordan sends Will a lengthy email detailing his feelings and desire to date him. He does not receive a response and later learns that Will is moving. Meanwhile, Vanessa has gotten married to a man she met at Kiki’s wedding and Laura has begun seriously dating a teacher, Tony. Jordan, feeling like he is growing apart from his friends, goes on a date with an old acquaintance but it doesn’t go far as he is still “hung up on his ex.” Laura gets engaged to Tony and at her bachelorette party, she and Jordan get into a fight. Jordan admits to being jealous of her relationship with Tony and how upset he is that their friendship now comes second. The fight gets ugly and Jordan leaves the party, angry and unhappy. He still attends the wedding and makes up with Laura, although it's obvious something has been permanently broken between them. The play ends with Jordan watching Laura and Tony’s first dance, alone.