COMPANY negotiating a spring 2020 transfer at a Shubert theater

[JBroadway]

What about Emily Blunt? I feel like she could sing it, plus she fits the part well enough, AND she could sell tickets!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

BJR said: "If they’re after a major actress and there’s an EPA up gearing for a production this season, wouldn’t the actress have pretty much already committed? Most major actress are busy and don’t have 6 months laying around."

Assuming Company would open in late April, they're still 7 months away from 1st rehearsal...though final approval for a theatre might also hinge on signing an actress for the lead role. They're getting down to the wire, but weirder things have happened. After months of rumors about various actresses for the last Night Music revival, Catherine Zeta-Jones was announced just 2 months before the 1st preview. For The Price, Mark Ruffalo stepped into rehearsal on January 5 ahead of a February 16 opening.

Posting the EPA could also be a negotiation tactic to try to get the actress's deal done.

[ljay889]

JBroadway said: "What about Emily Blunt? I feel like she could sing it, plus she fits the part well enough, AND she could sell tickets! "

I thought about this too and she’s pretty much perfect for it but I’m not sure she can handle singing that score live 8x a week. 

[WldKingdomHM]

Calling Jessica Chastain please

[JBroadway]

People in this thread keep throwing out “they can’t sing it 8 times a week” about trained singers like Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams, and Emily Blunt. Do you have any basis for that assumption? For all you know, they absolutely can. And surely someone would have that conversation with the actors in question before they sign the contract. Plus they could always continue to train with voice teachers to build stamina (a reminder that Daniel Radcliffe sang and danced his ass off in H2S, and never missed a performance, despite never having sung or danced before).

And by the way, Amy Adams sang the role The Baker’s Wife eight times a week!

[ljay889]

Emily Blunt sounded lovely in ITW and Mary Poppins, but there’s obvious auto tune used on the tracks, hence why I said I’m not SURE she could handle it, I didn’t say she couldn’t handle it.

[TotallyEffed]

If Les Miserables was the best Hathaway could do on film as a “trained singer,” there is no way she can sing this score live eight times a week.

Or maybe more accurately, she can, but would it be remotely pleasant to listen to? “Marry Me a Little” and “Being Alive” are songs for singer-singers. Not actors who can carry a tune when they have to.

[ChairinMain]

How quickly they forget. Long before Les Mis Hathaway was constantly being talked about here as one of the few Hollywood figures with legit broadway-style pipes. Her whisper-singing in Les Mis does nothing to diminish that. Here's her singing Sondheim at the Hollywood bowl about 10 years ago, and a more recent example (with crappy sound, unfortunately) of her MORE than holding her own in a duet with one Kelli O'Hara at a Clinton benefit concert. She, or Amy Adams, would do just fine as Bobby. Blunt as well but she has young children and may not want to commit to a lengthy new york run. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVqjW8-t-c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNT9Ixoefjw

 

[joevitus]

Totally Effed,

Dean Jones was probably the definitive Bobby, and he wasn't what you'd call a "singer's singer." Listen to him on the cast album (or tapes made from the performances). He is straining, but he is wonderful (fits Bobby's character for his voice to show strain). 

[BenElliott]

Anne Hathaway would be perfectly capable of singing this 8 times a week.

[GeorgeandDot]

Lol at Idina. Woman cannot act and has never been able to.

Anne Hathaway is perfect. She's got a great, trained singing voice (Les Mis is not a good example of her skills) and she's a wonderfully charismatic actress. Bobbi and Bobby are more acting roles than they are singing roles.

[Mike Barrett]

While I of course know Patti LuPone and Broadway names, my parents do not, but they do love Broadway. I consider them the average broadway tourist, see a show everytimr they’re in the city, often had a star in it. When I mentioned a possible Company w/Anne and Patti they were both thrilled about buying tickets

[qolbinau]

Anne Hathaway and Patti LuPone in Company would be an EVENT. 

[Fetus]

Anne Hathaway would be wonderful, and it seems like she has the perfect gap in her schedule to allow for a 6-month run. I would love to see her tackle something dramatic again. Weird to think Les Mis was 6 1/2 years ago.

[nasty_khakis]

Anne is quite capable of singing this score. Maybe not BELT it, but she can definitely handle it and I'm sure at least for the solos they'd find her appropriate key. I know it wasn't as big a sing by any means but she held her own against Raul Esparza and Audra McDonald in Twelfth Night. 

[tjjster]

Wasn't Hathaway also very well received int he Encores Carnival staging she did with Brian Stokes Mitchell? 

 

https://youtu.be/WNZ8uaw_dDE

[BJR]

qolbinau said: "Anne Hathaway and Patti LuPone in Company would be an EVENT."

 

100%.

 

[qolbinau]

Btw. This is going to be de ja vu like the Night Music revival if it starts with a major star rumour (Kate Winslet/Anne Hathaway), then goes back to theatre star (Marin Mazzie/Craig) then out of left field comes another major star (Amy Adams/CZJ). We shall see.

[cambell22]

I saw this in London, it was fantastic. I had previously seen the LC in concert production back in the 90's (with original surviving cast ((including ES)), then the Sam Mendes Donmar production and finally the Roundabout production in 1996 and can say that the updated gender swapping revival is GREAT!

[joevitus]

Was the "Poor Baby" section odd? It's hard to imagine a group of married men repeatedly trying to set a single female friend. It's not even something women are likely to do today for a male friend (which is why, to me, it makes sense to keep it in the era when it was written). 

[Robbie2]

broadwayindie said: "Big name with a filming schedule - I'm thinking Cynthia Erivo"

O no it would be an angry-hate filled performance...she's all wrong for Bobbie!

[QueenAlice]

joevitus said: "Was the "Poor Baby" section odd? It's hard to imagine a group of married men repeatedly trying to set a singlefemale friend. It's not even something women are likely to do today for a male friend (which is why, to me, it makes sense to keep it in the era when it was written)."

IMO the production is a totally fascinating exercise but you can’t really ignore the fact that if Sondheim were writing this for a woman he simply would have written a lot of completely different material. Swapping pronouns and genders doesn’t ultimately cut it in my book - though I agree this production makes the case for a woman playing the central role, I’d honestly love to see Sondheim further develop changes in the score  if it’s going to go to NYC.

 

[qolbinau]

Poor Baby was hilarious and worked fine. SPOILERS I still laugh to think of how funny and bizarre it was to have these men enter her room while she is having cunnilingus with Andy. God this show is funny. Doyle really sucked the life out of it sadly.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

QueenAlice said: "IMO the production is a totally fascinating exercise but you can’t really ignore the fact that if Sondheim were writing this for a woman he simply would have written a lot of completely different material. Swapping pronouns and genders doesn’t ultimately cut it in my book - though I agree this production makes the case for a woman playing the central role, I’d honestly love to see Sondheim further develop changes in the score if it’s going to go to NYC."
 

That was my issue with it, too. And the three "boyfriends" all came across as gay...You Can Drive A Person is a delightful number, but I didn't feel it worked in the context of this production. None of Sondheim's new lyrics are an improvement; he would have even taken fault with them if another writer had written them.

I'm curious about how this production will register with people in the general public who haven't seen COMPANY before –– those who know it's gender-switched, and those who don't. It's not like Oklahoma or West Side where everyone's seen a "normal" production (or the movie).

[Londonskyguy]

I was fortunate to see the London production twice,and I so wish the entire cast would transfer to Broadway.I have never seen a more perfect ensemble. Unfortunately it seems this is not going to happen , so let’s discuss.
Joanne - Patti
Bobbi- Anne Hathaway
Larry- Rob Lowe
Jaime- Gavin Creel

Sarah -Bonnie Hunt