Side Man
is a memory play by Warren Leight. His inspiration was his father Donald, who worked as a sideman, in jazz parlance a musician for hire who can blend in with the band or star as a solo performer, according to what is required by the gig.
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SIDE MAN TICKETS
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Plot
The play's narrator is Clifford Glimmer, the only son of Gene, a talented but self-absorbed jazz
trumpeter, and his
alcoholic wife Terry, who describes the tumultuous relationship his parents shared and the haphazard career journey Gene followed over the course of three decades. Dedicated more to his music than his family, he refuses to accept a regular job to support them, and their home life gradually unravels, with Clifford eventually assuming the role of breadwinner his father has foresaken and offering his mother the emotional support Gene can not. Scenes alternate between the family's spartan
New York City apartment and the smoke-filled
nightclubs and
cabarets of another era.
Productions
Directed by
Michael Mayer, the play premiered on March 11, 1998 at the
off-off-Broadway East 13th Street Theater, where it ran until March 29. The cast included
Frank Wood as Gene, Robert Sella as Clifford, and
Edie Falco as Terry.
[1] After 27 previews, the
Broadway production, also directed by Mayer, opened on June 25, 1998 at the Criterion Center Stage Right. It later transferred to the
John Golden Theatre for a total run of 517 performances. Wood and Sella reprised their roles, with
Wendy Makkena replacing Falco as Terry. Later in the run Sella was replaced successively by
Andrew McCarthy,
Christian Slater, and
Scott Wolf, Wood was replaced by
Michael O'Keefe, and Makkena was replaced by Falco.
In reviewing the off-Broadway production, Peter Marks of the
New York Times
called it "both heartbreaking and touching, a play of true feeling, full of affection for its characters and insight about the events it conjures."
[2]
Through an arrangement with
Actors' Equity, which allowed for the
British cast of
The Real Thing
to travel to Broadway,
Street Man
, with Wood, Falco, and
Jason Priestley, opened on February 8, 2000 in
London's
West End at the
Apollo Theatre, where it ran for slightly more than two months.
Awards and nominations
- 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (nominee)
- 1998 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play (nominee)
- 1999 Tony Award for Best Play (winner
)
- 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (nominee)
References
- Lortel Archives Internet Off-Broadway Database
- ''New York Times'' review, March 12, 1998