Different past versions of COMPANY?

[lulamorashi]

Posted: 10/30/19 at 10:54pm

Hi there! I'm currently in rehearsal for a production of Company and was confused by one of the scenes in the libretto copies we were sent. The version of the show I'm most familiar with is the 2006 self-accompanied revival, in which in Act 2 Scene 3, Peter makes an awkward pass at Bobby - this is also what happens according to the Wikipedia synopsis of the play. But in our script, there is no mention of this - Act 2 Scene 3 is instead about Peter and Susan continuing to behave as a married couple (but even happier) post-divorce.

I know there have been a few changes made to Company over the years (not even including the gender-flipped version) - I'll note that our libretto includes the "if he said to go away/if he happened to be gay" rhyme in Drive A Person Crazy as opposed to the more objectionable original! But I haven't been able to find any record of when this scene was changed. Which is the more up-to-date version and why was it changed? Anybody know any other interesting changes that have happened with this show post-Broadway premiere?

According to the front page of my libretto, the book is copyrighted 1996, the music and lyrics are copyrighted 1970/1971. Maybe it was changed for the London revival and then changed back...?

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 12:17am

Does your script begin with the phone messages to Bobby? I believe if there's no phone messages or the Peter/Bobby pass, it's likely the original libretto.

A 1995/1996 version of the libretto was licensed for years, but MTI now offers the 2013 version. I'm not sure what makes the 2013 version different. 

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 12:21am

Funny enough, here's how the official MTI synopsis describes the scene 

Robert and Marta are at Peter and Susan's apartment; Peter and Susan have divorced but are still living together happily, a fact that strikes Marta as being very "New York." 

Maybe the Peter/Bobby pass is cut in the 2013 licensed version, and that could be the version you have?

[carnzee]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 12:48am

I think the scene you are talking about was added for the 1995 revival and wasn't in the 1970 production.

I wonder if this scene is in the new Bobbie version.

[Boq101]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 2:47am

When I was in college I found an original Company libretto from the original printing and found that Joanne has a lot more lines in the beginning scene where she is much meaner than she is now. I'm not sure if anyone knows if those made it into the '95 revision but I know they're all gone as of the Doyle revival. 

 

I also remember sondheim.com years ago having an editorial about the changes they made for the '95 version:  http://www.sondheim.com/commentary/company_rewritten_1.html 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 3:08am

What is the 2013 libretto version exactly? What production did it coincide with?

[brettarnett]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 11:18am

I’m gonna guess the NY Phil production with Neil Patrick Harris?

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 11:21am

I was thinking that too. I know that version didn’t use the opening phone messages. Did it have the Bobby/Peter pass? I don’t remember.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 11:33am

The Philharmonic version did include that interaction- I still remember Craig Bierko's nonchalant delivery of "Have you ever had a homosexual experience?" 

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 11:48am

Goodness, there are so many different versions of the book. Just like Follies.

So it sounds like the OP does not have the Philharmonic version.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 7:17pm

I am absolutely in awe (no kidding) of the memories that some of you have.  I have seen the original production three times, the Boyd Gaines version twice, the Washington Kennedy Center version with John Barrowman twice, and several other touring versions.  I already have tickets for the Link / Lupone production.

Alas,I have not seen the production with Raul Esparza; but, to be honest, I don't like Raul Esparza, so I didn't see it.  So, I am thinking probably 10 - 12 times.  I can not even guess re any of the observations made re changes in subsequent productions, although I never remember a gay pass in any of them.

More recently, I saw MR twice in Boston, and once so far in NYC.  I can not point out a single change between the Boston version and the NYC version, although I thought the Elephant and Windmill looked more impressive in Boston (and Boston did not have red drapes all over the mezzanine or so many chandeliers (at least in my memory).  I remember reading  some of the MR posts and thinking how unobservant I apparently am.

I have also seen Follies no less than 10 - 12 times and cant remember anything different in the book scenes, although IMO the book scenes werewere never Follies strength...after the first few times, I bided my time until the next number.

 

[lulamorashi]

Posted: 10/31/19 at 7:46pm

Thanks to everyone who has weighed in! Boq101, your link seems to explain it - my version of the libretto as all the "new" script changes listed here (http://www.sondheim.com/commentary/company_rewritten_4.html) except the Act 2 Scene 3 change, which doesn't reinstate the second half of the scene. Weirdly enough, it's like they read this commentary and re-wrote it as the author suggests, breaking the scene off at "Now THIS is what I call New York."