Significant Other’s Gideon Glick & Lindsay Mendez on Having Zero Game & Sorta Hating Each Other at First
Musical mainstays Lindsay Mendez and Gideon Glick don’t sing (well, too much) in Josh Harmon’s off-Broadway comedy Significant Other, but their heartwarming portrayal of besties Jordan and Laura prove they’re just as comfortable doing monologues in a straight play as they are doing riffs. After a rocky start (more about that below), Mendez and Glick have become fast friends while starring in the Roundabout Theatre Company production at the Laura Pels Theatre. Broadway.com spent the afternoon hanging out with the stars as they cracked each other up about The Lion King, embarrassing texting habits, fangirling, and belting "Ave Maria."
Q: Did you know each other before you became co-stars?
GIDEON: Negative. We both did the reading of Significant Other, and that’s where we met.
LINDSAY: Remember at first I thought you hated me and you thought I hated you?
GIDEON: We thought we hated each other! I thought Lindsay had already done a reading of the play, so when the whole thing was over, I was expecting her to tell me I did a good job.
LINDSAY: He wanted my approval of his take on the role.
GIDEON: [Laughs.]
LINDSAY: He didn’t know that I’d never done the play either. Gideon does lots of plays and I do more musicals, so when he came up to me after the reading all surprised and said, “Wow, you’re a really good actress,” I was like, “Ew, Gideon Glick.”
GIDEON: And I was like, “I’m waiting for my compliment, hello!” [Laughs.] It just shows how self-involved we are.
LINDSAY: And then on the first day of rehearsal we both admitted it to each other, and we were like, “Oh my god, no, I love you, I wanted you to like me.”
GIDEON: And then we took the subway home together and fell in love.
Q: Have you seen each other perform before?
GIDEON: Yeah, I saw Dogfight and thought she was extraordinary, and then I saw her in Central Park for the Marvin Hamlisch memorial concert and she floored me. I fangirled her at the end. I said, “You did really good.” And she was like [snooty voice] “Thanks,” and walked away.
LINDSAY: I did not! And Gideon was so good in Into the Woods. So we both saw each other in the park.
Q: Significant Other takes place at a series of weddings—what song always makes you get up and dance at a wedding?
LINDSAY: For me, it's a Michael Jackson song. Give me a “Thriller,” an “I Want You Back,” an “ABC,” I’m vintage Jackson all the way to “Black or White.”
Q: Lindsay, how many times have you been a bridesmaid?
LINDSAY: I’ve never been a bridesmaid. Guess what I always have to do at a wedding?
GIDEON: Sing?
LINDSAY: Yep, at every wedding I go to.
GIDEON: What's your favorite song to sing at a wedding?
LINDSAY: My friend Brian Perri, the conductor of Wicked, married his husband Dan Levine, and I got to sing Joni Mitchell’s “My Old Man,” and it was so awesome.
LINDSAY: I’ve done an “Ave Maria” or two. But in a full belt.
GIDEON: At my cousin’s wedding when I was eight, I was a soprano at that time, so I sang, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”
LINDSAY: Shut up! Did you do the Nala verse? [Singing] He’s holding back, he’s hiding...
GIDEON: Duh!
Q: OK, now we’re gonna talk about crushes.
LINDSAY: Noooo!
GIDEON: Oh no!
Q: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done when you had a crush?
GIDEON: Any texting I’ve ever done. I get so embarrassed that I have to delete them from my phone.
Q: Is it the volume of texts or the content that's so embarrassing?
GIDEON: Both. I'm very forward and honest about my feelings, I don’t like to play games. I have no game!
LINDSAY: I feel the same way, I don’t have a lot of game either. I think Gideon and I are both very direct people and we’re also very vulnerable.
GIDEON: We’re just honest about our feelings.
LINDSAY: A little too honest sometimes. [Laughs.]
Q: Do you have one best friend or a bunch of best friends?
GIDEON: I have a tier of people, but I’m not group oriented, so all my friends are separate. Sarah Steele’s my soul mate, I’ve known her since I was 11, and Wesley Taylor’s one of my best friends, too.
Q: What would they say about you if they were here right now?
GIDEON: They’d say shut the f**k up and stop talking so much.
LINDSAY: What would they say about me?
GIDEON: [Laughs.] Lindsay is a very warm and generous person, and she’s very giving.
LINDSAY: And Gideon, I think you’re so unique and wonderful. I just don’t know anybody like you.
GIDEON: I feel the same way about myself!
LINDSAY: [Laughs.]
