Company is a
musical with a book by
George Furth and music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim. The original production won a record-setting six Tony Awards.
Originally entitled Threes, its plot revolves around Bobby (a single man unable to commit fully to a steady relationship, let alone marriage), the five married couples who are his best friends, and his three girlfriends. Unlike most book musicals, which follow a clearly delineated plot, Company is a concept musical composed of short vignettes, presented in no particular chronological order, linked by a celebration for Bobby's 35th birthday.
Company was among the first musicals to deal with adult problems through its music. As Sondheim put it, "Company does deal with upper middle-class people with upper middle-class problems. Broadway theater has been for many years supported by those people. They really want to escape, and here we're saying we'll bring it right back in their faces ... what they came to a musical to avoid, they suddenly find facing them on the stage."
Background
George Furth wrote 11 one-act plays planned for
Kim Stanley as each of the 11 leads.
Anthony Perkins was interested in directing, and asked Sondheim to read the material. After Sondheim read the plays, he asked
Harold Prince for his opinion; Prince thought the plays would make the basis for a musical. The theme would be New York marriages with a central character to examine those marriages.
Productions
Original Broadway production
Company opened in Boston in out-of-town tryouts, receiving mixed reviews, from the
Boston Evening Globe "Brilliant", to
Variety Magazine "The songs are for the most part undistinguished."
The show opened on Broadway on April 26, 1970 at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 705 performances and seven previews. Directed by Harold Prince, the opening cast included Dean Jones (who had replaced Anthony Perkins early in the rehearsal period when Perkins departed to direct a play), Donna McKechnie, Susan Browning, Pamela Myers, Barbara Barrie, Charles Kimbrough, Merle Louise, Beth Howland, and Elaine Stritch. Musical staging was by Michael Bennett, assisted by Bob Avian. The set design by Boris Aronson consisted of two working elevators and various vertical platforms that emphasized the musical’s theme of isolation.
Shortly after opening night, Jones withdrew from the show, allegedly due to illness, but actually due to stress he was suffering from ongoing divorce proceedings. He was replaced by his understudy Larry Kert, who had created the role of Tony in West Side Story. Kert earned rave reviews for his performance when the critics were invited to return. In an unusual move, the Tony Awards committee deemed Kert eligible for a nomination, an honor usually reserved for the actor who originates a role.
Company: Original Cast Album
A documentary of the recording of the
original cast recording was created by award-winning documentary filmmaker
D. A. Pennebaker shortly after the show opened on Broadway as a pilot for a series of TV documentaries which were to highlight the different ways a cast album recording session could be conducted and the results therefrom. However, a week after the original screening, producers for the original series were hired in Hollywood to go head up production for a major movie studio, the series was scrapped and only this pilot film remains.
In the film, the cast album recording session starts in the early evening, with most of the ensemble numbers completed before midnight, leaving just the principal actors and small-group ensembles. Most of the small-group and solo numbers are completed by the wee hours, and shortly afterward everything settles down, leaving just Stritch and the orchestra.
Over the next several hours, she struggles repeatedly to record the song The Ladies Who Lunch, first trying it out in a key lower than that used in the production, then finding it hard to maintain the idiosyncractic tempi required to sing while appearing intoxicated. Eventually, as dawn creeps over Columbia Records CBS 30th Street Studio in the background, they stop to get some rest after the marathon 18 hour recording session. The next day, Stritch "is shown nailing the song",
Kennedy Center production
A
Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) production, presented as part of a summer-long salute to Sondheim, opened on May 17, 2002 for a 17-performance run. Directed by Sean Mathias, the cast included
John Barrowman as Robert,
Emily Skinner,
Alice Ripley, and
Lynn Redgrave.
2006 Broadway revival
A new revival had try outs at the
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park's Robert S. Marx Theatre in March and April 2006. The
Broadway revival, directed and choreographed by
John Doyle opened on November 29, 2006 at the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre with a cast that included
Raúl Esparza as Bobby and
Barbara Walsh as Joanne. As in Doyle's 2005 Broadway production of
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the actors themselves provided the orchestral accompaniment. For example, Esparza as Bobby played percussion and piano. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The musical closed on July 1, 2007 after 34 previews and 246 performances. It was taped and broadcast on the
Great Performances program of
PBS in 2007. However, the production caused major controversy when Whelan was out sick for one performance and (with no understudy) Kookaburra chief executive
Peter Cousens insisted the show be performed anyway, but without the character of April. This involved cutting several numbers and scenes with no explanation, and that night's performance ended twenty minutes early. Following complaints from the audience, there was considerable negative press attention to the decision, and Sondheim threatened to revoke the production rights for the show.
2011 New York Philharmonic Concert
In April 2011,
Lonny Price directed a staged concert production, with
Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby,
Stephen Colbert as Harry,
Craig Bierko as Peter,
Jon Cryer as David,
Katie Finneran as Amy,
Christina Hendricks as April,
Aaron Lazar as Paul,
Jill Paice as Susan,
Martha Plimpton as Sarah,
Anika Noni Rose as Marta,
Jennifer Laura Thompson as Jenny, Jim Walton as Larry,
Chryssie Whitehead as Kathy, and
Patti LuPone as Joanne.
Paul Gemignani conducted a 35-piece orchestra, which uses the original orchestrations from the first Broadway production. This concert follows a long tradition of Stephen Sondheim concert productions at the
New York Philharmonic, including
Sweeney Todd and
Passion. A filmed presentation of the concert debuted in select movie theatres June 15, 2011. The cast of the production gathered again for a live performance at the
2011 Tony Awards, hosted by Harris, on June 12, 2011.
International productions
A 1997 Repertory Philippines production starred Victor Laurel as Bobby.
A
Brazilian production opened on February 8, 2001 at the Villa-Lobos Theatre in
Rio de Janeiro, closed April 22, opened April 27 at the Alfa Theatre in
São Paulo, then returned to the Villa-Lobos Theatre in Rio.
A 2010 production opened in
Norway at the DNS (Den Nationale Scene) in
Bergen. Jon Bleikli Devik plays Robert.
A 2011 Israeli production opened on May 28, 2011 at the Beersheba Theatre.
Synopsis
Note: In the early 1990s, Furth and Sondheim revised the libretto, cutting and altering dialogue that had become dated and rewriting the end to act one. This synopsis is based on the revised libretto.
Act I
It's Robert's birthday. He's 35, he lives in
New York City and he's single. His friends, most of them married and all of them couples, have gathered at his apartment to give him a surprise party (a party Robert knows about thanks to a careless message left by one of his friends, the neurotic Amy) and to wish him the best. None of them know each other, they just all know Robert, or, as he's alternately known, Bob, Bobby, Robby, Robbo and a variety of other pet names bestowed on him by the ten married people to which he has attached himself. Robert tries to blow out the candles, but they stay lit. It's alright, someone cries, he still gets his wish. What was his wish? Nothing. Not even to be married. Joanne and Larry, Peter and Susan, Harry and Sarah, David and Jenny, and Paul and Amy, his married friends, these good and crazy people, are all he needs ("Company").
What follows is a series of disconnected scenes, each featuring one of the couples and Robert.
The first scene features Robert with Harry and Sarah. Robert has brought over some brownies and some bourbon for a nightcap, but Sarah is dieting and Harry is on the wagon, or at least that's what they say. Between needling and taunting each other mercilessly about their respective vices, Harry sneaks glasses of brandy and Sarah hides bites of the brownie. Sarah has been studying karate, and Robert implores her to demonstrate a throw or two. She does so, on Harry. He tries to counter, and they are soon thrashing about in violence that may or may not be playful. The caustic Joanne, the oldest, most cynical and most-oft married of Robert's friends, watches and observes that it is "The Little Things You Do Together" that make a marriage work. After Sarah has gone to bed, Robert asks Harry if he ever regretted getting married. He answers, and the other married men concur, that you are always "Sorry-Grateful", and that marriage changes both everything and nothing about the way you live.
Robert is with Peter and Susan next, on their apartment terrace, from which they can sort of almost see the East River. They seem like a perfect couple, apart from her frequent fainting spells. He's Ivy League, she's a southern belle, and they love each other very much. Robert innocently flirts with Susan, telling Peter that if they ever break up, he wants to be the first to know. Well, they reply, he's the first to know. They're getting divorced.
At the home of Jenny and David, Robert has brought some marijuana along with him. Jenny is rather uptight and David is very chic, and all three puff away feeling very hip and proud of themselves. David declares himself potted and the self-admitted square Jenny talks non-stop before realizing she is completely stoned. The couple, even in their enlightened state of consciousness, finds the strength to grill Robert on why he hasn't gotten married yet. It's not like he's opposed to it. He's looking. In fact, he's found three lovely young women he is currently fooling around with. The women, Kathy, Marta and April appear and proceed, Andrews Sisters-style, to berate Robert for his reluctance to commit ("You Could Drive a Person Crazy"). As the evening at Jenny and David’s comes to a close, David tells Robert privately that Jenny really doesn't enjoy the pot, but she does it to please him.
Everyone it seems is trying to pair Robert off with someone, and each of the deeply-envious men has found someone perfect for a night of pleasure or two. When you can have that, they chorus, why would you want to get married ("Have I Got a Girl For You")? But Robert is happy to put off anything like that for a while. He's waiting for someone, someone who is a composite of all his married female friends, someone who has Amy's sweetness and Sarah's warmth and Susan's blue eyes. She's out there, somewhere ("Someone is Waiting").
Robert meets his three girlfriends in a small park in the East-Fifties (probably Greenacre Park as Kathy references the waterfall on the wall) on three separate occasions as Marta sings of the city: crowded, dirty, uncaring and wonderful ("Another Hundred People").
Robert meets with April first. She's an airline flight attendant, and not a very bright one. She knows she's boring and dumb, and she's okay with it. She's found a great set-up with an uninterested male friend, and seems happy.
Robert and Kathy meet in a secluded, quiet clearing in the park. She loves it here because it's out of place in the hectic City, just like she is. Robert admits that at the beginning of their past relationship, he would have married her. She admits the same thing, and they laugh at the realization that they both wanted to marry each other before she drops a bombshell: she's going back to Cape Cod to get married. She doesn't belong here; just like the clearing they're in. And then she's gone.
Marta, on the other hand, loves the city. It's the center of the universe. The out-there Marta babbles on about topics as diverse as true sophistication, the difference between uptown and downtown New York, and how you can always tell a New Yorker by his or her ass. Robert is, frankly, left stunned.
Amy and Paul have lived together for years, but are only now getting married. Amy is in an unprecedented state of panic, and as a celestial soprano (played in the original production by the actress playing Jenny) comments and Paul harmonizes rapturously, Amy patters an impressive list of reasons why she is "Not Getting Married Today." Robert, the best man, and Paul watch as she self-destructs over warm orange juice and burnt toast and the rain and the fact that Paul is Jewish while she's Catholic and finally just refuses to go through with it. Paul dejectedly runs out into the rain without a coat. Robert tries to comfort Amy, but winds up proposing to her: "Marry me and they'll all leave us alone!" His words jolt Amy back into reality, and with the parting words "you need to marry somebody, not someBODY," she runs out after Paul.
Back at the birthday party, Robert is given his cake and tries to blow out the candles again. He wishes for something this time, someone to "Marry Me a Little", praying for an easy, no-strings marriage.
Act II
At the party, Robert blows out his candles again. This time, he gets them about half out, and the rest have to help him. The couples share their views on Robert with each other, comments that range from complimentary to unflattering, as Robert reflects on living in threes ("Side By Side By Side"), a turn soon followed by the up-tempo paean to Robert's role as the perfect friend ("What Would We Do Without You?"). In a dance break in the middle of the number (or, in the case of the 2006 revival, in a musical solo section), each man in turn does a dance step (or, in the case of the 2006 revival, plays a solo on his instrument), answered by his wife. Then Robert does a step (or, in the case of the 2006 revival, plays two bad notes on a
kazoo). No one answers it.
Robert brings April to his apartment for a nightcap after a date. She marvels ad nauseam at how homey his place is, and he casually positions her over the bed as they share stories about a crushed butterfly and a spoiled date, going through the usual movements associated with casual sex. Meanwhile, the married women worry about Robert. He's lonely, they say, he needs a woman. A real woman, someone like them, not the girl he's with now, who couldn't be more wrong for him. ("Poor Baby"). When the inevitable sex happens, Kathy appears and performs a dance that conveys the difference between having sex and making love ("Tick-Tock"). The next morning, April wakes up to report for duty. She's got to be on Flight 18 to "Barcelona" in a few hours. Robert makes the customary false pleas for her to stay, and for some inexplicable reasons, the pleading works and she does. Robert is less than pleased.
Robert takes another girlfriend, Marta this time, to visit Peter and Susan's terrace. They've gotten their divorce. Peter flew to Mexico to get it, and it was so nice there he phoned Susan and she joined him there for a vacation. They're still living together. They have too many responsibilities to actually split up, and their relationship has actually been strengthened by their divorce. Susan takes Marta inside to make lunch, and Peter asks Robert if he's ever had a homosexual experience. They both admit they have. Robert asks Peter if he's gay, which he denies, but Peter questions if mankind wouldn't prefer to just "ball it" if it weren't for social norms and wonders if he and Robert could ever have something. Robert, clearly uncomfortable, laughs the conversation off as a joke as the women return.
Joanne and Larry take Robert out to a nightclub, and as Larry dances, Joanne and Robert get thoroughly drunk. She regales him with tales of her ex-husbands and insults Larry before yelling at some women at the next table to stop looking at her. She blames Robert for always being an outsider, and then berates Larry again. She raises her glass in a mocking toast to "The Ladies Who Lunch", a song judging rich middle aged women, who waste their lives away doing meaningless activities. However, at the end of the song, Joanne realizes she is the worst Lady Who Lunches of them all. She is the type who wastes her life away judging the other ladies, meanwhile doing nothing to improve her own life.
Larry takes Joanne's drunken rant without complaint and explains to Robert that despite the fact she's so abusive, or maybe because of it, he loves her dearly. When Larry leaves to pay the check, Joanne propositions Robert. She says, "I'll take care of you", but he replies, "Who will I take care of?" Larry returns, and Joanne tells him, "I just did someone a big favour." Larry and Joanne go home, leaving Bobby lost in thought.
He finally confronts the five couples. Why get married, he cries. What do you get from it but someone to smother you and make you feel things you don't want to feel? But his arguments pale and he finally, finally wishes for someone to share his life with, someone to help and hurt and hinder and love, someone to face the challenge of "Being Alive" with.
Back at the opening party, his friends waited two hours, but Robert hasn't shown up. Finally, they all get the message and go home, wishing their absent friend a happy birthday. Robert appears alone, smiles, and blows out his candles.
Characters and original cast
Robert (Dean Jones) - The central character; his 35th birthday brings the group together
The couples (all married except Amy and Paul)
Sarah (Barbara Barrie) - Learning karate and has issues with food and dieting.
Harry (Charles Kimbrough) - Friendly and affable, but with a drinking problem.
Susan (Merle Louise) - A gracious Southern belle who suffers from fainting spells
Peter (John Cunningham) - Formerly Ivy League, possibly gay.
Jenny (Teri Ralston) - Sweet, but a bit square
David (George Coe) - Chic and a bit controlling.
Amy (Beth Howland) - Neurotic, gets cold feet on her wedding day
Paul (Steve Elmore) - Amy's fiancé, Jewish, who has learned how to put up with her manic spells.
Joanne (Elaine Stritch) - Cynical and very acerbic. Only drinks with Robert.
Larry (Charles Braswell) - Joanne's third husband. Sweet and understanding.
The Girlfriends
April (Susan Browning) - A naive flight attendant. Self-described as "dumb"
Marta (Pamela Myers) - Hip and vulgar. Loves New York.
Kathy (Donna McKechnie) - A small town girl, Robert's long-time on-off girlfriend.
The Vocal Minority:
pit singers – Cathy Corkill, Carol Gelfand, Marilyn Saunders and Dona D. Vaughn. In subsequent productions, the Vocal Minority have been eliminated. They were brought back for the 2011 New York Philharmonic production.
Song list
;Act I
Overture
Company -- Robert and Company
The Little Things You Do Together—Joanne and Couples
Sorry-Grateful—Harry, David and Larry
You Could Drive a Person Crazy—Kathy, April and Marta
Have I Got A Girl for You—Larry, Peter, Paul, David and Harry
Someone Is Waiting—Robert
Another Hundred People—Marta
Getting Married Today—Amy, Paul, Jenny and Company
Marry Me a Little* -- Robert
;Act II
Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You? -- Robert and Couples
Poor Baby—Wives
Tick-Tock** -- Instrumental; Kathy
Barcelona—Robert and April
The Ladies Who Lunch—Joanne
Being Alive*** -- Robert
* In the 1990s, "Marry Me a Little" was restored permanently to close Act I and added to the 1995 and 2006 revivals, it is also included in the official composer's edition of the vocal selections, published in 1996 (ISBN 0-7935-6763-7).
** The dance number "Tick-Tock" (arranged by David Shire) was abridged for the first Broadway revival, and afterwards deleted entirely from the score. It had become a liability in productions without dancers of the caliber of Donna McKechnie. However, it has since been restored in some productions (such as the 2004 Reprise! production in Los Angeles).
*** The song "Multitude of Amys" was the original finale but was cut owing to major structural changes in the script. "Marry Me a Little" was started as a replacement but also cut. "Happily Ever After" was used as the finale for the first few performances, before being replaced by "Being Alive".
Recordings
The Broadway cast album did not include Kert, because it had already been recorded before he assumed the role of Bobby. However, after having Jones' original vocals mixed out of the original Broadway backing tracks, when the cast travelled to
London to reprise their roles,
Columbia Records took Kert into the studio to record new vocal tracks. This "new" recording featuring the new vocals laid over the original Broadway backing tracks was released as the Original London Cast recording. In 1998, when
Sony Music who had acquired the Columbia catalogues, released a newly-digitalized
CD version of the original Broadway cast recording, Kert's rendition of "Being Alive," the show's final number, was included as a bonus track.
There are also cast recordings of the 1995 Broadway and London productions and the 2006 Broadway production.
Video recordings are available of the 1995 London and 2006 Broadway revivals.
Awards and nominations
For the only time, the
Tony Awards for Music and Lyrics were split into two categories. Sondheim won both awards.
;Original Broadway Production
Tony Awards:
Best Musical (Winner)
Best Book of a Musical (Winner)
Best Original Score (Winner)
Best Lyrics (Winner)
Best Actor in a Musical - Kert (Nomination)
Best Actress in a Musical - Stritch, Browning (Nomination)
Best Featured Actor in a Musical - Kimbrough (Nomination)
Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Barrie, Myers (Nomination)
Best Set Design (Winner)
Best Lighting Design (Nomination)
Best Choreography (Nomination)
Best Direction of a Musical (Winner)
Theatre World Award:
Browning (Winner)
Drama Desk Awards:
Outstanding Book of a Musical (Winner)
Outstanding Lyrics (Winner)
Outstanding Music (Winner)
Outstanding Set Design (Winner)
Outstanding Director (Winner)
;1995 Broadway Revival
Tony Awards:
Best Revival of a Musical (Nomination)
Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Veanne Cox (Nomination)
Drama Desk Awards:
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical - Veanne Cox (Nomination)
;1995 London Revival
Olivier Awards:
Best Actor in a Musical - Adrian Lester (Winner)
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical - Sheila Gish (Winner)
Best Supporting Actress in a Muiscal - Sophie Thompson (Nomination)
Best Director - Sam Mendes (Winner)
;2006 Broadway Revival
Tony Awards:
Best Revival of a Musical (Winner)
Best Actor in a Musical - Raul Esparza (Nomination)
Best Direction of a Musical - John Doyle (Nomination)
Drama Desk Awards:
Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Winner)
Outstanding Actor in a Musical - Raul Esparza (Winner)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical - Barbara Walsh (Nomination)
Outstanding Director of a Musical - John Doyle (Nomination)
Outstanding Orchestrations - Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Winner, tie)
Notes
References
Hutchins, Michael H. (June 7, 2006). The Stephen Sondheim Reference Guide. sondheimguide.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
Interview with Barbara Walsh. Downstage Center (a collaboration of the American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio). First aired January 12, 2007. Retrieved on February 4, 2007. (RealAudio interview; MP3 podcast.)
Interview with John Doyle. Downstage Center First aired November 24, 2006. Retrieved on February 4, 2007. (RealAudio interview; MP3 podcast.)
Further reading
Ilson, Carol. Harold Prince: A Director's Journey (2004), Limelight Editions, ISBN 0-87910-296-9.
Prince, Harold. Contradictions: Notes on twenty-six years in the theatre (1974), Dodd, Mead, ISBN 0-396-07019-1.
Rich, Frank. The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson (1987), Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52913-8.
Mandelbaum, Ken. A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett (1990), St Martins Press, ISBN 0-312-04280-9.
External links
Company at LiveBway.com - Filmed Broadway Shows Database
, documentary about the recording of the original cast album
, filmed stage revival starring Adrian Lester
, filmed stage revival starring Raul Esparza
Company at Music Theatre International
Company recordings at CastAlbums.org
Musical Cyberspace: Company
Review of 1996 revival
Category:1970 musicals
Category:Broadway musicals
Category:Drama Desk Award winning musicals
Category:West End musicals
Category:Original musicals
Category:Tony Award winning musicals
Category:Musicals by Stephen Sondheim
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