Company (musical)


Company is a 1970 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six.
Originally titled Threes, its plot revolves around Robert, 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 Robert's 35th birthday.
Company was among the first musicals to deal with adult themes and relationships. As Sondheim puts it, "Broadway theater has been for many years supported by upper-middle-class people with upper-middle-class problems. These people really want to escape that world when they go to the theatre, and then here we are with Company talking about how we're going to bring it right back in their faces".

Background

wrote eleven one-act plays planned for Kim Stanley as each of the separate 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.

Synopsis

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

Robert is a well-liked single man living in New York City, whose friends are all married or engaged couples: Joanne and Larry, Peter and Susan, Harry and Sarah, David and Jenny, and Paul and Amy. It is Robert's 35th birthday and the couples have gathered to throw him a surprise party. When Robert fails to blow out any candles on his birthday cake, the couples promise him that his birthday wish will still come true, though he has wished for nothing, since his friends are all that he needs. What follows is a series of disconnected vignettes in no apparent chronological order, each featuring Robert during a visit with one of the couples or alone with a girlfriend.
The first of these features Robert visiting Sarah, a foodie supposedly now dieting, and her husband Harry, an alcoholic supposedly now on the wagon. Sarah and Harry taunt each other on their vices, escalating toward karate-like fighting and thrashing that may or may not be playful. The caustic Joanne, the oldest, most cynical, and most-oft divorced of Robert's friends, comments sarcastically to the audience that it is "The Little Things You Do Together" that make a marriage work. Harry then explains, and the other married men concur, that a person is always "Sorry-Grateful" about getting married, and that marriage changes both everything and nothing about the way they live.
Robert is next with Peter and Susan, on their apartment terrace. Peter is Ivy League, and Susan is a southern belle; the two seem to be a perfect couple, yet they surprise Robert with the news of their upcoming divorce. At the home of the uptight Jenny and chic David, Robert has brought along some marijuana that they share. The couple turns to grilling Robert on why he has not yet gotten married. Robert claims he is not against the notion, but three women he is currently fooling around with—Kathy, Marta, and April—appear and proceed, Andrews Sisters-style, to chastise Robert for his reluctance to being committed. David tries to tell Robert privately that Jenny did not like the marijuana, after she asks for another joint. "I married a square", he reminds his wife, demanding she bring him food.
All of Robert's male friends are deeply envious about his commitment-free status, and each has found someone they find perfect for Robert, but Robert is waiting for someone who merges the best features of all his married female friends. Robert meets his three girlfriends in a small park on three separate occasions as Marta sings of the city: crowded, dirty, uncaring, yet somehow wonderful. Robert first gets to know April, a slow-witted airline flight attendant. Robert then spends time with Kathy; they had dated previously and both admit that they had each secretly considered marrying the other. They laugh at this coincidence before Robert suddenly considers the idea seriously; however Kathy reveals that she is leaving for Cape Cod with a new fiancé. Finally, Robert meets with Marta; she loves New York, and babbles on about topics as diverse as true sophistication, the difference between uptown and downtown New York, and how she can always tell a New Yorker by his or her ass. Robert is left stunned.
The scene turns to the day of Amy and Paul's wedding; they have lived together for years, but are only now getting married. Amy is in an overwhelming state of panic and, as the upbeat 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 complains and self-destructs over every petty thing she can possibly think of and finally just calls off the wedding explicitly. Paul dejectedly storms out into the rain and Robert tries to comfort Amy, but emotionally winds up offering an impromptu proposal to her himself. His words jolt Amy back into reality, and with the parting words "you need to marry some body, not just some body", she runs out after Paul, at last ready to marry him. The setting returns to the scene of the birthday party, where 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".

Act II

The birthday party scene is reset, and Robert goes to blow out his candles. 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 which range from complimentary to unflattering, as Robert reflects on being the fifth wheel, soon followed by the up-tempo paean to Robert's role as the perfect friend. In a dance break in the middle of the number, each man, in turn, does a dance step, answered by his wife. Then Robert likewise does a step, but he has no partner to answer 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 leads her to the bed, sitting next to her on it and working on getting her into it. She earnestly tells him of experience from her past, involving the death of a butterfly; he counters with a bizarre remembrance of his own, obviously fabricated, and designed to put her in the mood to succumb to seduction. Meanwhile, the married women worry about Robert's single and lonesome status, and particularly about the unsuitable qualities they find in the women he does date, asking, "Isn't she a little bit, well--Dumb? Tacky? Vulgar? Old? Tall? Aggressive? Where is she from?...She's tall enough to be your mother....". When the inevitable sex happens, we hear Robert's and April's thoughts, interspersed with music that expresses and mirrors their increasing excitement. This music often accompanies a solo dance by Kathy, conveying the emotions and dynamics of making love; it has also been staged as a pas de deux, a group number, or been cut altogether in various productions. The next morning, April rises early, to report for duty aboard a flight to "Barcelona". Robert tries to get her to stay, at first wholeheartedly, parrying her apologetic protestations that she cannot, with playful begging and insistence. As April continues to reluctantly resist his entreaties, and sleepiness retakes him, Bobby seems to lose conviction, agreeing that she should go; that change apparently gets to her, and she joyfully declares that she will stay, after all. This takes Robert by surprise, and his astonished, plaintive "Oh, God!" is suffused not with triumph, nor even ambivalence, but with evident fear and regret.
In the following scene, Robert takes Marta to visit Peter and Susan, on their terrace. Apparently, Peter flew to Mexico to get the divorce, but he phoned Susan and she joined him there for a vacation. Bizarrely, they are still living together, claiming they have too many responsibilities to actually leave each other's lives, and that their relationship has actually been strengthened by the divorce. Susan takes Marta inside to make lunch, and Peter asks Robert if he has ever had a homosexual experience. They both admit they have, and Peter hints at the possibility that he and Robert could have such an encounter, but Robert uncomfortably laughs the conversation off as a joke just as the women return.
Joanne and Larry take Robert out to a nightclub, where Larry dances, and Joanne and Robert sit watching, getting thoroughly drunk. She blames Robert for always being an outsider, only watching life rather than living it, and also persists in berating Larry. She raises her glass in a mocking toast to "The Ladies Who Lunch", passing judgment on various types of rich, middle-aged women wasting their lives away with mostly meaningless activities. Her harshest criticism is reserved for those, like herself, who "just watch", and she concludes with the observation that all these ladies are bound together by a terror that comes with the knowledge that "everybody dies". Larry returns from the dance floor, taking Joanne's drunken rant without complaint and explains to Robert that he still loves her dearly. When Larry leaves to pay the check, Joanne bluntly invites Robert to begin an affair with her, assuring him that she will "take care of him". The reply this elicits from him, "But who will I take care of?" seems to surprise him, and to strike Joanne as a profound breakthrough on his part, "...a door opening that's been stuck for a long time". Robert insists it is not, that he has studied and been open to marriages and commitment, but questions "What do you get?" Upon Larry's return, Robert asks again, angrily, "What do you get?" Joanne declares, with some satisfaction, "I just did someone a big favor". She and Larry go home, leaving Robert lost in frustrated contemplation.
The couples' recurrent musical motif begins yet again, with all of them focused anew on their "Bobby Bubbi", "Robert darling", "Bobby baby", and again inviting him to "Drop by anytime...". Rather than the cheery, indulgent tone he had responded with in earlier scenes, Robert suddenly, desperately, shouts "STOP!" In their stunned silence, he challenges them with quiet intensity: "What do you get?" The music to "Being Alive" begins, and he sings, openly enumerating the many traps and dangers he perceives in marriage; speaking their disagreements, his friends counter his ideas, one by one, encouraging him to dare to try for love and commitment. Finally, Bobby's words change, expressing a desire, increasing in urgency, for loving intimacy, even with all its problems, and the wish to meet someone with whom to face the challenge of The opening party resets a final time; Robert's friends have waited two hours, with still no sign of him. At last, they all prepare to leave, expressing a new hopefulness about their absent friend's chances for loving fulfillment, and wishing him a happy birthday, wherever he may be, as they leave. Robert then appears alone, smiles, and blows out his candles.

Characters

Principal casts

Song list

; Act I
; Act II

Original Broadway production

Company opened in Boston in out-of-town tryouts, receiving mixed reviews, from the Boston Evening Globe "Brilliant", to Variety "The songs are for the most part undistinguished" and "As it stands now it's for ladies' matinees, homos and misogynists".
The musical opened on Broadway on April 26, 1970, at the Alvin Theatre, and closed on January 1, 1972 after 705 performances and seven previews.
Directed by Hal Prince, the opening cast included Dean Jones, Donna McKechnie, Susan Browning, George Coe, 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, reportedly due to illness, but actually due to his belief that the show was too nihilistic, spurred on from his 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. The Tony Awards committee deemed Kert eligible for a nomination, an honor usually reserved for the actor who originates a role.
Original replacement cast members included John Cunningham as Bobby and Vivian Blaine and Jane Russell as Joanne.

Original Cast Album: ''Company''

The making of the original cast recording was captured by award-winning documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker shortly after the show opened on Broadway as a pilot for a TV series highlighting the different ways a cast-album recording session could be conducted. However, a week after the original screening, all the original producers for the proposed series were hired to go out to Hollywood and head up production at MGM. As nobody was left in New York to spearhead the project, the series was scrapped. Only this lone pilot film remains of an idea never brought to fruition.
The 1970 film Original Cast Album: Company is filled with behind the scenes footage of the 14-hour recording process at the Columbia Records Big Church recording studio at East 30th Street and Third Avenue on the first Sunday in May, complete with much of the musical direction from and insight of Sondheim himself. Several of the show's numbers were captured in the film—including "Another Hundred People", "Getting Married Today", and "Being Alive"—all recorded with a live orchestra, done in multiple takes over the course of several hours.
Eventually only "The Ladies Who Lunch" remained to be recorded. It was well past midnight, and Stritch, Sondheim, and the orchestra were all clearly suffering from the effects of the day's marathon recording session. Stritch struggled repeatedly to record a satisfactory version of the song, even going so far as to slightly drop the key for a few takes. Her voice continued to degrade and her energy continued to ebb away. As she struggled, some conflict was seen between Stritch, the producer Thomas Z. Shepard, and Sondheim.
Before dawn, everyone agreed to stop. They recorded one last take of the orchestra by themselves and agreed to have Stritch come back early in the week and record the vocal over the previously recorded orchestra track. The finale of the film features a revitalized Stritch, in full hair and makeup in preparation for a Wednesday matinee performance of the show, successfully performing "The Ladies Who Lunch" in one take.
The film and musical was the inspiration for the Documentary Now! parody, Original Cast Album: Co-Op. The mockumentary follows the recording of the cast album of a fictional Company-style musical, about the residents and employees of a co-op apartment. The musical is so poorly reviewed that it closes after its first day, and the cast is informed of this during the recording session. The episode was written by John Mulaney and Seth Meyers. It features Mulaney as a Stephen Sondheim analog, Paula Pell as a Stritch-styled character struggling through multiple takes of her number, in addition to Taran Killam, James Urbaniak, Alex Brightman, Richard Kind, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.

First national tour

The first national tour opened on May 20, 1971, at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California, with George Chakiris as Bobby, and closed on May 20, 1972, at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C..

Original London production

The first West End production opened on January 18, 1972, at Her Majesty's Theatre, where it closed on November 4, 1972 after 344 performances. The original cast, directed by Harold Prince with choreography by Michael Bennett, featured Larry Kert, Elaine Stritch, Joy Franz, Beth Howland and Donna McKechnie. Dilys Watling and Julia McKenzie were replacements later in the run.

Original Australian production

The Sydney Theatre Company presented the first Australian production at the Sydney Opera House's Drama Theatre in January and February 1986. Directed by Richard Wherrett, it featured John O'May as Bobby, Geraldine Turner as Joanne, with other cast members including Tony Sheldon, Simon Burke, Terence Donovan, Barry Quin

1993 reunion concerts

Most members of the original Broadway cast reunited in California for a concert to benefit Actors Fund of America AIDS charities and the Long Beach Civic Light Opera. Angela Lansbury served as host for the January 23, 1993 performance at the Terrace Theater, with narration by George Hearn. The reunion concert was repeated for two New York performances in April 1993 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, directed by Barry Brown with Patti Lupone as host. The excitement of the reunion concerts resonated even in comparison to later full-scale revivals.

1995 Broadway revival

After 43 previews, the 1995 Roundabout Theatre revival, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Marshall, opened on October 5, 1995, at the Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 60 performances. The cast included Boyd Gaines, Kate Burton, Robert Westenberg, Diana Canova, Debra Monk, LaChanze, Charlotte d'Amboise, Jane Krakowski, Danny Burstein and Veanne Cox. This production was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Revival Of A Musical.

1995 London revival

The 1995 London revival was directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse. Previews began on December 1, with opening on December 13 and closing on March 2, 1996. The production transferred to the Albery Theatre, with previews starting on March 7, opening on March 13 and closing on June 29. The cast included Adrian Lester as the first black actor to play Bobby in a major production of the show.
A videotaped recording of the Donmar Warehouse production was broadcast by BBC Two on March 1, 1997. On Sunday, November 7, 2010, a one-off concert of Company starring most of the 1995 London revival cast, including Adrian Lester as Bobby, was held at The Queen's Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, to commemorate the 80th birthday of the composer, Stephen Sondheim.

Kennedy Center production

A Kennedy Center production, presented as part of a summer-long presentation of Sondheim musicals, 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. The production used the book from the original Broadway production, not the 1995 revision.

2006 Broadway revival

A new revival had try-outs at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Robert S. Marx Theatre in March through April 2006. The cast featured
Raúl Esparza and Barbara Walsh with direction and choreography by John Doyle.
This production, directed and choreographed by John Doyle, opened on Broadway on November 29, 2006 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The cast included Raúl Esparza as Bobby, alongside Barbara Walsh as Joanne.
The actors themselves provided the orchestral accompaniment. For example, Esparza plays percussion, Walsh plays Orchestra Bells and percussion and Heather Laws plays French horn, trumpet and flute.
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. That video was released on DVD in 2008.

2007 Australian production

mounted a production directed by Gale Edwards in Sydney in June 2007, starring David Campbell as Bobby, with a cast including Simon Burke, Anne Looby, James Millar, Pippa Grandison, Katrina Retallick, Tamsin Carroll and Christie Whelan. The show was well-received, and Sondheim travelled to Australia for the first time in thirty years to attend the opening night. However, the production caused major controversy when Whelan was out sick for one performance and 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 Robert, 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 similar orchestrations to the first Broadway production. This concert follows a long tradition of Stephen Sondheim concert productions at the New York Philharmonic, including and Passion. A filmed presentation of the concert debuted in select movie theatres on June 15, 2011. The DVD and Blu-ray version was released on November 13, 2012. The cast of the production gathered again for a live performance at the 2011 Tony Awards, hosted by Harris, on June 12, 2011.

2018 West End revival

A West End revival was staged at the Gielgud Theatre in previews from September 26, 2018, and officially on October 17. The production was part of Elliott & Harper Productions' debut season, a production company formed by director Marianne Elliott and producer Chris Harper. The revival/remake featured changes to the genders of several characters. The character of Bobby was changed to Bobbie, a female role, and was played by Rosalie Craig. Additionally the production featured a same-sex couple for the first time, with Jonathan Bailey as cold-footed groom Jamie and Alex Gaumond as his devoted fiancé Paul. Sondheim approved both changes and worked on revisions of the script with director Marianne Elliott.
Company topped the list of the 2019 Olivier Award nominations with nine nominations including Best Musical Revival. The production closed on March 30, 2019.

2020 Broadway revival

A Broadway transfer of the 2018 West End revival began previews at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on March 2, 2020, but was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic; no Broadway performances were scheduled from March 12 through April 12. This closure would later extend to September 6, 2020. The show was originally slated to open March 22, coinciding with Sondheim's 90th birthday.
LuPone reprises her role as Joanne, with Katrina Lenk as Bobbie; the production is directed by Marianne Elliott, with choreography by Liam Steel, music supervision and direction by Joel Fram, scenic and costume designs by Bunny Christie, lighting design by Neil Austin, sound design by Ian Dickinson, and illusions by Chris Fisher.

International productions

The original Broadway cast album features Jones, because it had been recorded prior to Kert assuming the role of Bobby. However, when the cast traveled to London to reprise their roles, Columbia Records took Kert into the studio to record new vocal tracks, and had Jones' original vocals mixed out of the original backing tracks. This recording featuring the new Kert vocals laid over the Broadway backing tracks was released as the Original London Cast recording. After Sony Music acquired the Columbia catalogues, a newly remastered CD of the original Broadway cast recording was released in 1998, featuring Kert's rendition of "Being Alive" as a bonus track.
Revival cast recordings for both the 1995 Broadway and London productions were released; recordings were also released for the 2006 actor-orchestra Broadway cast and the 2018 gender-swapped London cast.
Video recordings were released for the 1995 London, 2006 Broadway, and 2011 New York Philharmonic revivals.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production awards

1995 Broadway revival awards

Source: Internet Broadway database

1995 London revival awards

2006 Broadway revival awards

Source: Internet Broadway Database

2018 West End revival awards

Film version

Sondheim once asked William Goldman whether he would be interested in writing a screenplay for a film version of the musical. Goldman responded:
Company is one of those great shows, along with Gypsy and Pal Joey, that I think of as the greatest, quintessential, most beloved musicals. I remember seeing Company five times and I loved it, and I had a huge... problem which was that the main character's obviously gay but they don't talk about it. Hal, George and Steve all claim it's about a straight guy with commitment problems. Anyway I loved the show. And I figured out a way to change it, keep the score, but give it some narrative.

Herbert Ross was meant to direct but Goldman says the director talked Sondheim out of doing the film.
In 2010, there was speculation that Neil LaBute would direct a film version.

Citations