Company

[skynyc]

Tonight was one of those "I am so glad I live in New York" moments. I got to attend the NY Philharmonic celebration concert of Sondheim's Company. I have read some negative reviews on several of the theater chat boards, and purposely didn't read the Times review because I wanted to just savor it myself.

 

Neil Patrick Harris was actually a terrific Bobby. He didn't have the power on the high notes, but that didn't bother me much. He was much more vulnerable, and humorous than Raul Esparza who did it on Broadway several years ago. His timing is terrific, and in general, his singing is much better than not...as I said, only on the highest notes did he falter at all...and by that time, he had the audience in the palm of his hand.

 

Stephen Colbert and Martha Plimpton played Sarah and Harry...the couple originally played by Barbara Barrie and Charles Kimbrough...(Barrie was in the row ahead of us tonight.) They did a great job with the Karate fight which is "narrated" by the others in "The Little THings You Do Together."

 

Katie Finneran and Aaron Lazar were lovely as Paul and Amy, and Finneran made the most of the comedy in "Not Getting Married Today." (And apparently she missed the words on Thursday night...well, not tonight.)

 

Sexy Christina Hendricks (from TV's Mad Men) was the flight attendant April who brought down the house with "BArcelona", while Aniki Noni Rose sang "Another Hundred People" as a legit soprano, which worked beautifully...and in doing so managed to make the song her own, which is quite a feat since Pamela Myers' belting it out on the CD of the original production is so iconic.

 

And speaking of iconic, Elaine Strich's "Ladies Who Lunch" is truly a signature song. But Patti LuPone sang it at the Sondheim birthday bash last spring, and rocked it, (and indeed the entire role of Joanne.)

 

It was a very special evening, and the star-watching was divine. Bryn Terfel was in line behind me at the bar at intermission...who knew he was so tall? And Sarah Jessica was there, although I didn't see Matthew Broderick.

 

All it all, a great day...and there were TV cameras everywhere, so it was filmed for use sometime. I expect it will be PBS Pledge week special this fall...and I will watch it again.

[+ sf westcoaster]

Company is one of my all time favorites - thanks for alerting me to this production. I will watch for it on the local PBS

[uwsman2]

I was there Thursday night and thought it was terrific. Lonny Price's staging was fantastic, given the limitations of space and equipment in that hall, and everybody really got into the spirit. The singing Thursday night was variable, but who cares. Patti LuPone in "Ladies That Lunch" was a show-stealer.

[ted]

I attended the matinee yesterday and agree that it was terrific. If you read the inserts in the Playbill, it was taped(filmed) for theatre release June 15, so not sure it will appear on PBS anytime soon.

[edjames]

I saw it Friday night and have to agree it was one of those memorable nights in NYC theater! The audiemce's energy and approval was evident from the opening intro. The Company score is one of my favorite Sondheim compositions.

 

Everyone in the cast was excellent. It suddenly occurred to me that every time I see a production of Company a gay actor has played Bobby! While NPH did an admirable job, and he has a lot of charm and appeal, I thought he lacked the vocal power to propel Being Alive into a showstopper.

 

My pal, Katie Finneran almost stopped the show with her hilarious rendition of "Not Getting Married Today."

 

Patti Lupone took "The Ladies Who Lunch" to a new level. Throwing her drink all over the first row must have really been a shock to all those well-dressed folks in the first row center seats!

 

A terrific evening. Can't wait for the PBS special!

 

ED

[edjames]

Forget that PBS special!!!! i was just told that plans are underway to release the filmed version of this concert as a full-lenght feature film presentation this summer. Interesting...

 

ED

[leigh.bess.toad]

Forget that PBS special!!!! i was just told that plans are underway to release the filmed version of this concert as a full-lenght feature film presentation this summer. Interesting...

 

ED

 

I'd love to have seen it. But it sounds like I may have a chance in some venue in the near future. I'm a huge fan of NPH and how can you not love Patti Lupone.

 

It's funny because I've been listening today to Sorry - Grateful.

[leigh.bess.toad]

I have been basically living in Company for the last few weeks (as my current signature may tell you). I simply adore this show. And now it's coming to the movie theater, well at least for a couple of nights. At least from what I've seen it's playing Wednesday June 15 and Thursday June 16 at all the theaters I've checked but that may be about it, I guess depending on where you are. Anyway, here is the link so you can buy tickets. I've already got my date lined up.

 

http://www.screenvision.com/s/showing/Company/

[rapaz7]

Thank you for posting the link of Movie Theatres that will be showing Company. I saw a preview in a movie theatre a few days ago and it looks great. I will be there on June 15. I haven't seen a Broadway show taped for a movie theatre before but I am hoping it will be an experience. I think it is great that they are doing this because it gives the show so much more exposure to a larger audience.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Just bumping this up to remind anyone interested that it's Wednesdy and Thursday night that Company will be playing in the movie theaters. I'll be there both nights (I love the show, what can I say).

[Bosguy]

Just bumping this up to remind anyone interested that it's Wednesdy and Thursday night that Company will be playing in the movie theaters. I'll be there both nights (I love the show, what can I say).

 

Thanks Lee. I'm going to go Thursday. Really looking forward to it!!

 

Bill K.

[leigh.bess.toad]

The show wasn't perfect, at least to my mind, but was truly wonderful anyway. First off, Patti Lupone was her typical Broadway diva magnificent self. She blew the doors off of Ladies Who Lunch. She certainly put her own stamp on that. NPH was very good as Bobby but a little too small of a voice for my taste for Bobby. Of course one of the funny quirks is that the show is set around Bobby's birthday and yesterday was NPH's birthday. One of the funny moments though was in the 2nd act when Peter asked Bobby if he'd ever had any homosexual experiences and the camera was solely on NPH. I don't know if everyone got the joke but it certainly made that line more humorous. But of all the stars, the biggest surprise was Jon Cryer as David -- he was great. Stephen Colbert did better than I expected and turned in an OK performancce as Harry. The rest of the cast did a great job. My biggest quibbles were with the tempi of some songs and the transpositions downwards of a few of the songs. The overture in particular was a bit unnerving.

 

Buit for me one of the biggest surprises of the night, and in thinking about it I guess it shouldn't have been, was the audience. The theater I was in was probably 80% full, which isn't bad. But of the audience, I'd put the gay part at about 70%+. So much for "It's Not Just for Gays Anymore". It was a comfortable enough setting for me, a recently out guy with a newly minted boyfriend sitting next to me, to be able to put my arm around him, and have few mild PDAs.

 

I'm going again tonight so it will be interesting to see if the audience is different. But if you can make it tonight, I would recommend going as I think today is the last showing in most places. It certainly was a wonderful way to spend an evening.

[rossthebosssf]

I caught it on screen last night. Overall I thought it was great. But as much as I like Stephen Colbert, I just didn't think his singing was up to snuff with the rest of the cast. Too bad considering I really love the song "Sorry, Grateful."

 

Was Christina Hendricks just busting out of her costume or what? She has some serious curves. She could break NPH in half.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Interesting audience wise for me. Thursday's audience was predominantly straight. I guess ll the gay boys came out for opening night.

 

In looking at the reviews online, I see that it will be shown two more times, tomorrow and Tuesday. In town here, tomorrow is a 2 pm matinee and Tuesday is a 730 show. And that looks about it. Reports from some of the reviews indicate that at least Wednesday's shows were selling out at a lot of theaters. That was great to see. It was probably 80-90% full both nights here in Richmond.