In Comes "Company"...To Your Living Room!

In case anyone isn't aware of the brilliance that PBS is broadcasting tonight, I thought I would take a moment to bring it to your attention.  For theater geeks (like myself), tonight is an exciting event: the "Great Performances" broadcast of last year's Tony Award Winning revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Company."   Here is my original review from last winter, but PLEASE check it out for yourself tonight! 

For anyone who has accused John Doyle of doing “the same old thing” with his production of “Company” I would like to give you a sweet old smack on the face.  Being a gentleman, that’s the polite way to say get the fuck over the fact that the only thing this production has in common with Doyle’s “Sweeney Todd” is brilliance.  Sure both contain actors who play the instruments that make up the orchestra but watching “Company” tonight I felt like I was seeing this idea for the first time.  He has reinvented a device that I will admit I worried could be a little one-note (pun intended) and in the process of using the actor instrumentation again, he has reinvented the show. 

I always try to go into theater with low expectations after hearing hype, and the Times review of “Company” certainly put that nasty bug in my brain.  Would Raul Esparza really be as good as I had heard?  What about the show as a whole?  Both exceeded my expectations and have left me close to speechless as I sit here writing.  Explaining moments from the show to my mother on the phone earlier I was getting chills. 

Many people, friends of mine included, moan about how cheesy musical theater is but Doyle has done an amazing thing with this production: he humanizes musical theater and makes it relatable.  Oddly enough he does that by using something that when explained would seem like the least relatable thing in the world.  He positions his actors around the stage playing their own instruments which adds emotional depth to a show that already tears into the gut of who we are.  What are we afraid of?  With commitment comes responsibility and fear but how are we to overcome that?   Having people not only sing but orchestrate the activity adds a dizzying amount of layers to the story.  The central character of Bobby is surrounded by people that are quite literally accompanying him through his life, yet he is alone and must maneuver through that.  His score is being created as he goes along and the choice he has to make is how much of a part he will play in it.

Throughout the show, Bobby is both the center of attention and constantly on the sidelines until finally with his last song he sits down at the piano and decides to get his feet wet.  He has to join his friends to complete the orchestra as chords escape out of him like they have been pent up inside for 35 years.   Watching Esparza first plunk out the cords before adding slowly to his own accompaniment for “Being Alive” is one of my favorite moments I have seen in the theater. 

(Gillian walks up to the marquee that looks blank.  It says "Company" in case you didn't guess.) 

The show deals with an emotional transition that takes place as his birthday approaches which adds a weight to his emotional state.  Raul Esparza captures every nuance of the character perfectly and is an actor who (has been directed well and) knows what power stillness can have.  Even when he sits observing the other actors there is such intent behind all of it throughout his whole body.  This goes for the rest of the cast as well who as they line the side assume a statuesque tranquility that only adds to Bobby’s volatile state. 

It is rare that every single aspect of a production seems like sheer perfection yet sitting through the two hours of “Company” tonight it felt pretty damn close.  In a legendary musical such as this, there are always the expectations that come with great performances of the past.  “Being Alive” and “The Ladies Who Lunch” have been done to death but tonight they were brought back to life as if they were brand new songs.  One of the best ensemble casts I have seen, Heather Laws stood out in “Not Getting Married,” which was one of many numbers that utilized the beautiful set.  The different squares on stage in which Bobby could be surrounded by his friends walking around the perimeter, or see them perched on cubes set off in the distance had a concert-like feel to it.  Doyle uses them brilliantly, maneuvering the cast around to create different visual and emotional levels that is anything but concert-like.

The only thing that I was upset with was the casting of Angel Desai as Marta.  “Another Hundred People” happens to be my favorite song from the show and she didn’t come close to doing it justice.  Acting wise she was great throughout the evening yet when she hit this number she didn’t have the voice (about four really different sounding tones coming out) to carry it.  It was a momentary lapse in what was otherwise a good performance. 

As I left the theater I was upset at the fact that the audience was only 75% full.  Theater like this is what needs to be supported and deserves commercial success but it most likely will not attain that.  Perhaps it just makes people uncomfortable to go to something and be confronted with issues that they find in their own life.  I, on the other hand, welcome this type of evening because of the self-reflection it brings.  If I could not only have legs, arms and a voice to express myself all the time, but an instrument as well to express my emotions like these characters maybe my life would seem as poetic.  We are all creating music with or without the instrument, which is what Doyle helps us to see.  Maybe he can come and set a ballet where we play while we pirouette?   My descriptions don’t even come close to doing this piece justice so please support it and see if you feel the same way!

Comments

[jolene]

"the only thing this production has in common with Doyle’s “Sweeney Todd” is brilliance."

THANK YOU. It boggles my mind that people even compare the two - the instrumentation in both are used in two completely different contexts.

When I saw the show, both times, the theater was literally half full, maybe even less. A running joke was that the lonelinest place on Broadway is the balcony of "Company". :P

Is there no love for Barbara Walsh? :) I love her - although Elaine Stritch was a singular sensation, and the character was even patterned after her, I thought Barbara Walsh at least deserved a Tony nom (definitely over Charlotte d'Amboise in A Chorus Line, who was horrendous). I'm a bit split about Marta - she plays her part well, but perhaps it's a good thing I don't know what original Marta sounds like. The song is still great though. I think I was so taken with the song, I didn't think about her head voice too much when she hits her higher notes. ;)

[Barbara]

I taped it last night and will hunker down tonight to watch. Last season my local choral group sang excerpts from Sondheim shows and now I can't get this tune out of my mind - "Bobby, come on over for dinner, we'll be so glad to see you...." Love it.

[Deborah]

This is my first time reading anything on your blog -- it was passed to me by a friend -- but I had to comment on this:

"For anyone who has accused John Doyle of doing “the same old thing” with his production of “Company” I would like to give you a sweet old smack on the face. Being a gentleman, that’s the polite way to say get the fuck over the fact that the only thing this production has in common with Doyle’s “Sweeney Todd” is brilliance."

THANK YOU.

I'm studying dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, and this production was easily the best experience I have ever had in a theater. I never understood how people couldn't see that Doyle was not just doing the same thing all over again. The man's a genius.