Side Man

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Side Man is a play by Warren Leight.

Leight's inspiration for his memory play 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. Its 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't. Scenes alternate between the family's spartan New York City apartment and the smoke-filled nightclubs and cabarets of another era.

After 27 previews, the Broadway production, directed by Michael 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. The original cast included Robert Sella as Clifford, Frank Wood as Gene, and Wendy Makkena 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 Edie Falco.

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.

A compilation of the jazz recordings heard in the play was released on compact disc by BMG.