Broadway Reviews Theatre Review by Howard Miller - December 8, 2025 Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison. Directed by Anne Kauffman. Scenic design by Lee Jellinek. Costume design by Márion Talán del la Rosa. Lighting design by Ben Stanton. Sound design and original music by Daniel Kluger. Hair design by Amanda Miller. Makeup design by Sarah Cimino.
Things in the world of artificial intelligence have certainly accelerated since Marjorie Prime, smartly directed then as now by Anne Kauffman, was first performed for New York audiences in 2015 at Off Broadway's Playwrights Horizons. What seemed at the time to be a work of speculative science fiction, set somewhere in the mid 21st century, now comes across as futuristic as the day after tomorrow. Just do an online search using the term "AI therapy" and you will quickly uncover links to services such as the one that advertises itself as "an AI companion designed to provide you with a supportive, non-judgmental space to talk through your feelings, challenges, and mental health goals." Add in visible manifestations of what at present are computer-generated text or voice AI support systems, and you've got the idea behind Marjorie Prime, in which anyone with the wherewithal (the cost in not addressed in the play) can acquire a lifelike "Prime," a holographic reproduction of a loved one to serve as a companion and as a storehouse of memories for those who are grieving the loss of one or are in the throes of losing the other. Call it psychological bandaging, or possibly a form of cognitive hospice care. The title character does not appear until the second scene of the 80-minute play, which is divided into three sections plus an ironic postscript. But before we jump ahead, let's begin before the appearance of Marjorie Prime. That would be the time we get to spend with the human Marjorie, an 85-year-old woman splendidly played by a vigorous 96-year-old June Squibb, who will reappear later as an even younger version of herself (along with the acting and directing, let's credit hair designer Amanda Miller and makeup designer Sarah Cimino for some wonderfully subtle transformations). Marjorie lives with her tightly wound daughter Tess (Cynthia Nixon, terrific) and Tess's husband Jon (Danny Burstein, ditto), the supportive peacemaker between the two women. Tess is, as Marjorie puts it, "the mother now," a role neither of them cares for.
We gain a lot of insight about Marjorie and Tess and Jon in this first scene, while Walter serves the purpose for which he is intended, appearing and leaving as required. Smartly, there is never a time when anyone in the household (or in the audience) will be deluded into seeing Walter for anything other than what he is, a "helper bot" of sorts, to borrow a term from the musical Maybe Happy Ending, someone who, as Jon puts it, "learns what we need to hear" and engages in supportive interactions. (At one point, Primes are compared to parrots, another interesting analogy to consider.) Two other encounters with Primes occur as the play progresses. The first of these, unsurprisingly, is with Marjorie Prime, who appears after the real Marjorie passes away. Jon has arranged this to help Tess cope with the loss of her mother and work through unfinished personal issues with the surrogate. Since we in the audience got to spend time with the real Marjorie, we are able to experience first-hand and alongside the vulnerable Tess the contrast between her actual mother and Marjorie Prime. Subtle but perhaps insidious as well. The third time we meet up with a Prime is a sad occasion that I will leave undisclosed. But, again, it feeds into the playwright's overriding question about the nature of humanness. Indeed, at one point Tess poses this very question to Marjorie Prime: "What are humans like?" The response: "Unpredictable." That may be the thing that will always separate us from bots and androids and Primes. Certainly that is something to ponder during the play's final scene, which may be intended as a grace note of irony but which, in retrospect, does not seem ironic at all as we wade into the unknown waters of a brave new world.
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