Patti's Coming Back!

[edjames]

Michael Reidel in today's NYPost announces that the London production of Company, directed by Marianne Elliott, will transfer to Broadway next fall!

 

 

Gender-bending Sondheim revival is coming to Broadway

By Michael Riedel

November 1, 2018 | 8:54pm

 

 

The ladies who lunch are booking a table in New York.

 

The gender-bending revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” which won rave reviews in London, will open on Broadway next fall, several theater sources told The Post.

 

Directed by Marianne Elliott, the whiz behind the Tony-winning “War Horse,” “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” and last season’s revival of “Angels in America,” “Company” just extended its run in London until March. Unless you’ve got connections, tickets are impossible to come by.

 

The twist here is that Bobby, the bachelor at the center of the show, is now Bobbie, a bachelorette, brilliantly played by Rosalie Craig. Although celebrated in London, she’s yet to make her Broadway debut. But she will next fall, in “Company,” leading a cast that includes Patti LuPone, who stops the show with her rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

 

LuPone has done something only she could do: upstage Elaine Stritch, who originated the role and made that song her calling card. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone who caught LuPone in John Doyle’s 2005 revival of “Sweeney Todd.”

 

I didn’t think anyone could match Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett. Then LuPone came out with her tuba — all the actors played instruments in that production — and walked off with a Tony nomination.

 

LuPone has said that she’s through with musicals. She was exhausted after “War Paint,” valiantly struggling through the run with a bad hip (she had it replaced after the show closed). But she’s enjoyed working with Elliott, and will reprise the role in New York.

 

LuPone has two Tonys: one for “Evita,” the other for the 2008 revival of “Gypsy.” There’s a third in her future for “Company.”

 

Sondheim kept an eye on this revival, sources say, just to make sure the gender switch didn’t radically alter the tone and style of the show. He took a break from his new musical, based on the Luis Buñuel movies “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel,” to attend “Company” rehearsals in London. He suggested some changes and is said to be delighted to see it come to Broadway.

 

A few critics have complained that this revival, which is set in the present, doesn’t quite capture the spirit of New York. That is a problem since “Company,” originally set in 1970, is the essence of sophisticated New York. But Elliott, sources say, is taking the criticisms into account and will inject more of the Big Apple into the Broadway production.

 

I expect to see her huddled over her notes at the Grill in the Seagram Building, which represents the New York at the heart of “Company.”

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Always great news to have her back on Broadway.

 

Plus, I love how bent out of shape her internet message board detractors get when she's performing in NYC. They can't help themselves

[+ WilliamM]

Always great news to have her back on Broadway.

 

Plus, I love how bent out of shape her internet message board detractors get when she's performing in NYC. They can't help themselves

 

Merman was far from universally liked either.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Merman was far from universally liked either.

 

Such is the diva's life

[+ WilliamM]

Mary Martin was thought to be too sweet to be sincere. (They were correct).

 

But,tourists missed that she was a lesbian. (Mary had a husband and two children, including Larry Hagman).