If only all orthodox classics were this amenable to reinvention. By subverting the risqué sexual politics of her past works, Elliott turned “Company” into a modern story of a woman struggling to resist social pressure to settle down with the “have-nots.” . All the impulses of modern femininity. In doing so, Elliott enhances Sondheim’s incredible score, giving new weight to some of the greatest show tunes ever written. (Elliott coordinated her Firth books and collaborated with Sondheim on this revival before her death in 2021.)
Take, for example, the finale, “Being Alive,” in which Bobby succumbs to the temptations of love and destroys the house. Britney Coleman delivers the song with an epiphanic urgency that hits differently as the characters’ biological clocks tick. Or the classic patter song ‘Getting Wedding Today’, traditionally performed by runaway brides, and now getting groom Jamie’s tongues twisted before gay weddings. While the impeccable Matt Rodin drives Jamie’s neurosis into overdrive, Elliott punctuates this epic with dynamic direction that’s peppered with laughs.
The number appears in one of the loosely connected episodes of “Company,” as Bobby glimpses different marriages through the eyes of his married friends. Kathryn Allison and James Earl Jones II A happily married couple discovers that marriage is the gateway to midlife malaise as both husband and wife abandon their vices, take up new hobbies, and feed off each other’s anxieties. It shows that. Javier Ignacio and Marina Kondo play a duo that seems to have everything figured out but is quietly falling apart. As a strict husband and a pretty hip wife, Jed Resnick and Emma Stratton shrewdly capture the futility of reliving a carefree past.
And the melancholy Manhattan socialite Joan, immortalized by Elaine Stritch and played by Olivier and Tony winner Patti LuPone in this West End and Broadway revival. Judy MacLaine proved herself a worthy successor to the theater giants, toasting “The Ladies Who Lunch” with the steam of a derailing locomotive.
While Bobby (or Bobby) has always been something of a cipher, passively watching from the backseat as the show’s more colorful supporting characters take turns behind the wheel, Coleman plays Katrina Lenk’s unfortunately isolated The performance will be more cheerful than the Broadway show. Andy, a flight attendant played by Jacob Dickie, has a love interest like a self-deprecating hembo with a goofy smile and sluggish reactions (a storytelling upgrade from the outdated cliché of a character with a male Bobby lying in bed). It’s not a bad thing that it ends up bouncing back. Another of Bobby’s potential lovers, Tyler Hardwick, gracefully delivers the perfect melody of “Another Hundred People” and a wistful meditation on New York City’s enduring fragility.
All set against a backdrop of Bunny Christie’s set of geometric neon frames. Bobby is constantly stuffed into a restrained box as he moves from one New York apartment to another. But the show’s most dazzling moment is during the Act I finale, “Marry Me a Little,” when a modular unit tumbles off the stage and Coleman’s red jumpsuit pops out in a haze of purple light. It’s time. (Christie also created the costumes, and Neil Austin is the lighting designer.)
Choreographer Liam Steele heightens the visual elements throughout the show, placing the cast in a series of comically timed tableaux. But the Kennedy Center’s expansive opera house felt awkward for the essential intimacy of “Company” during Thursday’s opening night performance, with dialogue echoing and vocals sometimes unable to envelop the space. It turned out to be suitable.
When it comes to appreciating Sondheim’s eclectic work, many understandably prefer his more genre-driven efforts, namely Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George; I’m partial to films like “Into the Woods.” But Sondheim’s lyricism was uniquely suited to articulating the complexities and contradictions of everyday life, and his musical collaborations with Firth, “Company” and “Merrily We Roll Along,” are among Sondheim’s most It represents an approachable composer. Between this production of “Company” and the expertly orchestrated revival of “Merrily” now on Broadway, we are in a moment of renewed appreciation for Sondheim the humanist. This is his genius. Even in death, no one captures the lived experience more accurately than the masters of musical theater.
company, through March 31 at the Kennedy Center. Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes. kennedycenter.org.
