Marjorie Prime is currently on Broadway. It is a sci-fi drama with a dark undertone, examining aging, grief, family dynamics, and memory.
The play first premiered Off-Broadway in 2015, where it was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. A decade later, Jordan Harrison’s work makes its Broadway debut with a strong cast, including Cynthia Nixon, Danny Burstein, and a remarkable performance from 96-year-old June Squibb.
The premise is deceptively simple. Marjorie is an 85-year-old woman living with dementia and fully aware of her decline. She’s cared for by her daughter Tess, played with controlled precision by Nixon, and by her husband John. The play is set slightly in the future, where AI holograms called “Primes” are created from deceased loved ones to provide companionship.
Marjorie’s Prime is Walter, her late husband, recreated as a younger man in his thirties, from a time before Tess was even born. (Hard not to compare Walter to Darren Crisss’s helper bot in Maybe Happy Ending, they look a-like, chiseled chin and all). Walter’s role is to keep Marjorie company, assist with memory, and perhaps resolve unfinished emotional business before death arrives.
This idea isn’t new. The resurrection of the dead through technology, or the use of technology to eliminate lonliness, has been explored repeatedly over the past decade, from Black Mirror’s “Be Right Back” and “San Junipero” to Spike Jonze’s Her. These stories function as cautionary tales and they rarely end well. Some conversations, it turns out, may be better left un-reopened.
Marjorie Prime Broadway Review
Marjorie Prime runs a tight 90 minutes with no intermission. It is not a feel-good experience. Portions of the play can be deeply triggering, especially for anyone who has been a caregiver or carries unresolved grief. The emotional terrain is heavy and familiar.
As the play unfolds, without spoilers, the central dramatic question begins to wobble. Is the Prime truly necessary? Does this character require it, or does the device exist primarily to serve the premise? At a certain point, the Prime and/or Primes stop functioning as a dramatic engine and start feeling like a concept the play no longer knows how to interrogate. Like, are we to believe these characters needs these Primes.
That said, the performances are undeniably strong. June Squibb plays Marjorie with surprising lightness and self-awareness, handling an extraordinarily difficult role with grace and control. Nixon is equally compelling as Tess, and both performances would be worthy of Tony nominations, even if wins feel unlikely.
Still, this is not a holiday play, and it doesn’t feel fresh. Despite how close we are to this technology becoming real, the ideas feel well-traveled. You leave the theater more subdued than moved.
This is a solidly acted revival of a familiar cautionary tale. And because we’ve already lived with these questions for years, Marjorie Prime ultimately feels skippable.
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