SOUND OFF: Sondheim's COMPANY On Film: A Birthday Cake In Black & White

Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY is in over five hundred movie theaters starting on Wednesday and that simple fact is enough to make one want to celebrate with a thousand vodka stingers - and imbibe in the delectable Sondheim zingers. I was lucky enough to see COMPANY last week and I can tell you that not only is it the best live representation of the show that any audience could ask for - Broadway babies, Sondheim neophytes and everything in between and far, far beyond - but a considerable reexamination of the themes, elements, emotions and the steely, chrome machinations ringing within the heartbeat of the show's cynical core. Lonny Price's COMPANY is something unique in modern entertainment, on Broadway, on film or anywhere else - it is multi-dimensional in a revolutionary way that is, frankly, unprecedented. This is Broadway in the 21st century at its best with a cast led by the brightest stars in the Broadway and TV universe on full display for a film audience and if this enterprise is successful, the mind marvels at the endless possibilities this format could afford in the future, both near and far. Yes, this is what you have been waiting for - whoever you are. If you love music, if you love wit, if you love comedy, if you love to laugh and think simultaneously - COMPANY is for you. Yes, this is that kind of review - and, thank goodness it is. It's due all the praise of a birthday boy like Bobby - with a generous dose of icing black as death; or, night.

Icing

A black and white birthday cake served up with a dollop of ice cold ice cream with just enough hot caramel on top and refreshing, scalding hot coffee on the side to elevate the entire experience to a multi-dimensional level of full satisfaction. That's the meal served up by Lonny Price in his simply sensational feature film live performance capture of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's seminal musical comedy COMPANY. The mere fact that the 1970 production was directed by Hal Prince and featured choreography by an impossibly young Michael Bennett is enough to scare a director off - but, the hard-to-beat casting of the original with Elaine Stritch and company making indelible impressions, all, is enough to make a helmer flee for the hills. But, what could have been a void - or, at least a journey full of peaks and valleys - is, instead, something else altogether. It's indescribable in its style, tone and unique voice as a film - and that, in its way, is what makes it a transcendent, almost spiritual experience for a Broadway fan who knows what this show means to Broadway history. COMPANY rewrote all of the rules more than forty years ago and, now, once again, Sondheim shows why his shows are the Shakespeare of our age and how his work is something to be appreciated and analyzed and enjoyed to the nth degree as much as humanly possible - now and forever. But, oh, yeah, this COMPANY is a hell of a good time, too - as swingin' as the best late-sixties party could score for you. It's the ideal expression of a show so rife with rich material that it positively screams to be seen from every angle possible - and, thanks to the HD capture and crisp 5.1 sound, it is. It is. And, again, the possibilities for this sort of representation are endless - and nearly every opportunity to evoke thought, emotion, comedy and pathos is wrought from the iron strong show that makes COMPANY what it is. There is a reason this is considered one of the greatest Broadway musicals ever written - and a reason it is cited as Sondheim's true entrée into the pantheon of the Great American Songbook and the greatest composers and lyricists our country has ever known. The genius of the mind behind the bind of Bobby is amply evident in Price's presentation and the deepest, more delicate expressions hidden within the material come to blossom and bloom - and growth can be seen by the end, when Bobby is no longer green as he was in the first scene. It's a journey - and joyous. Just with a little bit of bite - OK, all right, more than a little. A lot.

All opportunities are explored. The presence of the NY Philharmonic overseeing the action and looming in the distance for the duration of the show actually heightens the Brechtian nature of the show. It is a presentation of a presentational musical. COMPANY is oft-cited as the first concept musical as we have come to know the term since its premiere, after all, so what could be better than this sort of showcase for the more-than-occasionally-acerbic and at-the-same-time real and sincerely moving heart pumping within than an almost spontaneous presentation by Broadway's best. Speaking of COMPANY's concept musical roots: sure, there had been many experimental musicals with non-linear plots and commentary songs before - the foremost being Brecht & Weill's HAPPY END and Rodgers & Hammerstein's ALLEGRO, for sure - but it was not until COMPANY that a plot-less show, as it has been called, was packaged with the sheen, shine and gossamer glow of a Broadway masterpiece. No doubt, the Hal Prince/Michael Bennett collaboration on the original will never be equaled considering how much of its time and of the moment it truly was, yet, with Stephen Sondheim'S COMPANY - as it is so aptly titled; even the title is spot-on - Lonny Price presents the piece with the pace, verve, vivacity and pizzazz oh-so-perfect for a 21st century audience - and, at the same time, pays homage to what once was. Can FOLLIES be next, pretty please? It feels so fresh that it makes most other material on view in multiplexes look mundane and lazy - and, to be honest, a lot of what‘s on Broadway too, as far as musical revivals are concerned. In trying to understand why this entire entertainment experience is so exciting and worthy of praise of the highest order, perhaps it is most elementary to cut to the chase and go through the show song by song and scene by scene to see what makes it all tick and tock - and "Tick Tock".

The live nature of the filming - with only a few days of rehearsal and even less with the cast all together, as Neil Patrick Harris himself exclusively revealed in this very column a few weeks ago in our InDepth InterView - adds an element of surprise where it could so easily have been full of trepidation. The performances are all so assured and come off so cleanly that it seems as if the cast had been working with the material for weeks - to put it in film terms, since COMPANY is a film after all: it is as spontaneous as the takes and reactions in a Scorsese film, yet with the assuredness and polish of a solid Broadway performance of a smash hit show. It glows - with glee. And, harmony. This cast is just magic and makes the most of their moments - individually, and altogether. The group numbers are stupendous and the solo spots even better. The cast could not be more choice for the roles and, while some may lack the vocal polish of the elite Broadway vocalists, they bring so much warmth, style, charm and sincerity to the material - which is so important to this particular musical - that it all seems even more relatable and likable and real as a result of the naturalistic singing and acting. What a wise choice it was to cast actors so familiar with television - the star, Neil Patrick Harris, along with MAD MEN'S Christina Hendricks, as well as Stephen Colbert and Martha Plimpton, in addition to modern Broadway legend (a rarity and cause celebre in and of itself) Patti LuPone, all make the comedy hit in so many spots as to tickle the spine, the heart and the funny bone, while putting across the cynicism and - especially in Harris's case - the nuances of naiveté, in equal parts, that enhance the experimental elements at the center of the drama. This isn't a show with a lot of answers - but, boy, oh, boy, are there a lot of questions. More at the end than at the beginning, even. Yet, the question of whether or not Lonny Price's COMPANY delivers as the ultimate live experience of Sondheim's most enjoyable and entertaining musical comedy is a gigantic shout of agreement - a roar for more to the dinosaurs surviving the crunch. It's breakfast, dinner and lunch. As for the rest of the cast: Christina Hendricks brings a spunky sexiness and voluptuous, vivid volume to her role that makes it have an impression giving her equal footing with Joanne. Martha Plimpton, too, makes the karate scene - with a deadpan delight in Jon Cryer - and her "Poor Baby", sardonic and sweet with the duality so necessary to make her material work. Anika Noni Rose carries off "Another Hundred People" with aplomb and the trio of "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" is just wacky and weed-y - or, should I say: potted - enough to elicit the Andrews Sisters acid hallucination implicit in the styling while letting it be the showstopper and establishing number to make the three girlfriend-of-Bobby roles really shine. Aaron Lazar brings a suaveness to his Paul and his singing is smooth as ever, while Katie Finneran is flat-out funny frolicking and flopping around as Amy - though she has moments of tenuousness, it enriches Amy's neurotic and nervous overall nature so it acts as a compliment rather than a detriment to her overall performance. Indeed, the live element only makes the entire cake taste richer, heartier, sweeter, deeper and fuller. Oh, yeah, Stephen Colbert even sings and scores with an attractive "Sorry-Grateful" alongside a vibrato-rich and aristocratic Jim Walton and a sweetly sincere Jon Cryer. Craig Bierko and Jill Paice, too, make their mark on their smaller roles and the whole company feels integrated and the energy among them is palpable and alive. In short: it is really not easy to make COMPANY and, especially, an almost impromptu live performance of it, look this easy. But, it does. That is not only a credit to the masterful material of the musical, but also to the pace of the production and the overall presentational style of the undeniably and unabashedly theatrical nature of COMPANY and the tone set by Price and company. Ellen Krass scores again, to be sure.

Speaking of ladies who lunch: Patti LuPone. "The Little Things You Do Together" and "The Ladies Who Lunch" are two of the finest comedy songs a Broadway actress of a certain age could ask to enact and Elaine Stritch made such a mark on the role of Joanne as to make it her own in a way that defines Joanne. This Herculean feat is achieved in much the same way that Hal Prince and Michael Bennett's heretofore peerless direction/choreography and musical staging - which still remains the pinnacle on that accord since this venue does not afford the excesses of a full production - is expressed in Lonny Price's assured and slick direction here, especially with LuPone. It's its own thing, anyway. Something new - like a concept musical film, actually - to be quite precise. Also: the editing is precise and pristine to the point of pleasing even the inner film-fan in me, something I have never truly experienced in a live film before this. It is that good in its presentation. From the opening shot of nine intercut screens ala THE BRADY BUNCH through to "Being Alive" and the chilling, yet reassuring finale that, in some chilly and fulfilling way, makes perfect sense - and works in a dynamic and illuminating dramatic and thematic fashion that only Stephen Sondheim could create for an audience in the first place. How lucky we are to have him, this show and, now, this. What a score. What a score. What a score. That's three times - and I could say it thirty-five more times. What a COMPANY. Give me seventy for that.

Yes, the songs: Neil Patrick Harris brings an ingratiating and nubile, childlike nature to Bobby that makes his comedy scenes able to sustain the comedic charm that Harris is so amply able to provide - particularly given this exceedingly excellent assortment of actors for him to play with and off of here. Every single one of them deserves particular praise and mention: first and foremost is Patti LuPone's ferocious and sneering aforementioned Joanne, with a bunch of bite and enough underlying pathos to make her seem as sad and pitable as she is enviable for her seeming indomitableness. Never before has the scene in the swanky discotheque come across quite so desperately - before and after her tsunami of emotion; quite literally, given the spilled liquid quotient - in a fierce "Ladies Who Lunch". Also, the cigarette scene and her come-on to Bobby were the capper to a sumptuous and sensitive reading of a role that can seem cold, coy and calculated. Patti LuPone proves, yet again, why she is the best of the best of Broadway divas. Divine.

Neil Patrick Harris excels in the comedy scenes so expertly written by George Furth that he makes it seem almost too easy. It's a delight just to watch his reactions. And, yes, this holds up to multiple viewings - I've had three to write this review and, just for fun, I can envision that times ten in the coming months and years. Price's editing and set-ups are so befitting of the content of the show that it can make one forget that it is a live performance captured on film and makes one get lost in the world of Bobby and company - and COMPANY. What more could you ask for? Nothing, that's what. From the Brechtian "Company" with the entire ensemble facing front, to the acidic "Side By Side" and supremely satisfying group numbers and solo scenes all the way through to "Being Alive" being on the brink of a breakdown and the brink of a bright, new future courtesy of Harris's reading of Bobby, we are treated to a feast for the senses with the ideal presentation of COMPANY for the ages. This is it - with love. So much love - from all involved. To you.

It's "all those photos up on the wall" come to life right before your very eyes, ears, hearts - and, most of all: minds.

 

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