Company - A Musical Comedy (1970 Original Broadway Cast)

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Music reviews of Company - A Musical Comedy (1970 Original Broadway Cast)

Music Review: "Company"-The zenith of Sondheim wit and knowing?
Rating: 5 Stars

"Company," the 1970 Tony winner for Best Musical, still stands as a marvelous example of music, cast, and production blending together to create something modern and uncommonly great. The plotless story dealing with the concern of five Manhattan couples for their mutual friend Bobby (Dean Jones) and his romantic life (or lack thereof) is as relevant today as it was to 1970's audiences. As the friends discuss their concerns, we learn that not only has the domestic life they picture for their friend not worked out well for them, but what would they do without Bobby to support them? Bobby himself is ambivalent about committing to a serious relationship, while trying to supplant his friends' concerns for him and themselves.

Just about any married couple will recognize themselves in one of the show's intricately sketched couples, and the uncertain bachelors out there will certainly identify with the angst-driven Bobby. As Bobby, Dean Jones creates a wholly likable character, and a realistic one that can be sympathized with and understood. There are other standouts in the cast: Pamela Myers, Donna McKechnie, and Susan Browning as Bobby's frustrated girlfriends. There are also wonderful performances to be enjoyed from Elaine Stritch, Beth Howland, and Charles Kimbrough.

Each of Sondheim's songs gives us a wry, telling look into the lives and thoughts of the characters. From the bombastic opening of "Company" on, the score never fails to capture interest. The ambivalent "Sorry-Grateful" sung by Bobby's married male friends, is a perfectly integrated mix of the regrets and consolations of the married man. "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," an amusing triplet sung by Bobby's girlfriends, sprinkles laughs throughout its breathless pace. Bobby's plaintive "Someone Is Waiting," in which he dreams of his ideal woman (which can not be lived up to) is still a beautiful dream. Myers' commentary on the connectionless, empty existence of New Yorkers is straightforwardly expressed in "Another Hundred People." Bobby's friend Amy (Howland) suddenly finds herself in a hilarious (and understandable) panic at the prospect of "Getting Married Today." "Barcelona," Bobby's duet with one of his girlfriends, April (Browning) ranks among the most heartbreaking, poignant soliloquies ever composed for the Broadway stage. And as Bobby's elderly married friend Joanne, Elaine Stritch creates a show of her own with the arsenic-filled "The Ladies Who Lunch," a tour-de-force from simmering start to bombastic finish. And there is the wonderful, wonderful eleven o'clock number, "Being Alive" which Jones sings with every ounce he has to give, bringing the emotional heart of "Company" full circle.

These vivid characters and resonating attitudes make "Company" a stark, uncompromsing vehicle in the Broadway canon. But it is a brilliant show at the nth degree of brilliance. It is a show to think about, to be moved by, and to contemplate in everyday life. Because it still is life.

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