Marjorie Prime review Cynthia Nixon steals sad, and spotty, sci-fi revival

"When Jordan Harrison's play Marjorie Prime first premiered in 2014, its vision of synthetic sentience may have felt pretty novel. An old woman, Marjorie, talking to a hologram modeled after her long-dead husband perhaps seemed like a wild, far-fetched idea, that a computer program could somehow closely mimic the cadence of real conversation, could fake intimate knowledge of a person's life."

"Just 11 years later (and eight years after a little-seen film adaptation), Marjorie Prime plays far more credibly. We may not have the hologram technology down quite yet, but everything else in Harrison's AI speculation now seems well within reason. Perhaps that's why Second Stage Theater decided to revive the play in its Broadway house, an attempt at commenting, and capitalizing, on the excited buzz and nervous chatter surrounding recent technological advancements."

"What can be said here is that this Marjorie Prime, directed with restraint by Anne Kauffman (who was also behind the off-Broadway production in 2015), is both helped and hindered by its sudden relevance. It presents an intriguing and poignant suggestion of what might exist just a few decades from now, but perhaps doesn't suggest enough. With its novelty gone, Marjorie Prime must rely more firmly on its internal mechanics, which can be creaky."

Marjorie Prime premiered in 2014 with a premise of synthetic sentience: an elderly woman conversing with a hologram modeled on her long-dead husband. Eleven years later and after a film adaptation, the AI premise reads as credible, though hologram technology remains limited. A Broadway revival at Second Stage Theater engages with excitement and anxiety about technological advances. Anne Kauffman directs with restraint. The production is both helped and hindered by topicality, offering a poignant suggestion of a near future while relying on internal mechanics that sometimes feel creaky. June Squibb plays Marjorie, cared for by daughter Tess (Cynthia Nixon) and son-in-law Jon (Danny Burstein), joined by a projection of her husband, Walter (Christopher Lowell).

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