Company - revival

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 6:41am

Just watching the 2006 Broadway cast DVD of "company"

I was fortunate enough to see this and it was an amazing performance.

If the Menier decide to stage this for a limited season in the Autumn line-up it would be great if this version would come over.

[Boybooshka]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 7:56am

I saw this production too and absolutely loved it, definitely in my top ten. It's a toss up as to whether this or Sunset Boulevard is my fave actor/musician experience. The dvd and cast recording are both on fairly regular rotation here. It would be great to have the opportunity to see it again.

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 8:05am

I think this production is the most slickest actor/musican production i have seen. Everything about was just polished to perfection

[abitoftap]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 10:47am

I'm always in 2 minds about these sort of productions, but having said that, the one's I've seen I've usually enjoyed.

It's always amused me that with all the fuss about this production, the Ipswich Wolsey (Trevor Nunn's stomping ground many years ago) did an actor/musician production of this show about 2 years before the Doyle Broadway production, using lots of the Watermill people. Really enjoyable but never seems to get mentioned.

[Musical-Matt]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 10:51am

i enjoy the music of company so much and i do like the actor musician version i think it works very well !

[abitoftap]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 10:55am

Ah, if only you'd seen it at the Donmar with Adrian Lester, Clive Rowe and a bunch of others!

It was televised, although I haven't seen it on DVD. I'm sure there's some off air copies about.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:04am

Tap, that was wonderful production at the Donmar and later Albery.
Sheila Gish -bliss!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khypl3a1hV4

At least they got a CD out before it closed.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:06am

Sophie Thompson, Emma's little sister.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTe2Bq1hddg&feature=related

This production was far superior to that which played Broadway last year. Updated On: 4/29/09 at 11:06 AM

[abitoftap]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:14am

It was great to be so close to Gish's slurping drinks, as well as Lester's underpants!

I'm sure if my memory was better (or I had the program), it would remind of even more great actors in the show.

I did make some comment on the Broadway board about this production a year or so ago, and some, er, American, compared Adrian's voice to a sheep bleating. As he was also the best Anthony I've seen as well, I was mortally offended.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:17am

I loved the Donmar production - but I loved the Doyle New York production even more. Everything about it was stunning - and Raul Esparza was robbed of the Tony!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:22am

Um?
Sheila Gish
Adrian Lester
Clive Rowe
Clare Burt
Michael Simkins
Paul Bently
Hannah James
a few more......

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:23am

Teddy Kempner

[Scripps2]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 11:44am

...who I saw as Snoopy in the West End many years ago and he was brilliant.

I've got mixed feelings about the Donmar production as I thought it couldn't make its mind up whether it was set in the 1970s or the present day - although I did see it through only one contact lens as I had a crisis earlier in the day.

[twitchy+bitchy+manic]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 2:40pm

I've got the DVD of the revival as well, and thoroughly enjoyed, which is something to say for a DVD recording of a theatre performance (I find so often what works on stage comes across as pretty crap on video...most of the DVD of this show was fine) but I hope if the Menier does do a production of it this autumn, they do an entirely new restaging of it themselves, largely because I think, while the actor/muso concept is wonderful in certain cases, I really would prefer to see a standard company production. It's largely for the dance/lively numbers, such as 'you could drive a person crazy', side by side by side, etc. (if they put tick-tock back in, I think I would actually scream), cause in the actor/muso productions, they just feel kinda lifeless and inert...like the you could drive a person crazy, the girls playing the saxophones instead of the doo-doo's was just...weak. not to mention the walking around and around for side by side by side...

I dunno, I really liked the film, but I think a standard actor/actor musician/musician production would really free up the actors a bit more in those scenes. but then again, I'm just a bit of a glutton for those two songs in general. :P

[bob8rich]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 3:15pm

"like the you could drive a person crazy, the girls playing the saxophones instead of the doo-doo's was just...weak."

That is actually one of my fav moments in Doyle's production. The girls playing the sax and singing almost at the same time is breathtaking. I've never been a big fan of that song until I heard this version - now I love it.

But, I agree - even though I am a big fan of actor/muso shows - that if Company is revived in London (at the Menier or anywhere else) that I would prefer to see a totally new, fresh production.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 4/29/09 at 3:29pm

After seeing a brilliant version of A little night music, bring out Company!

[Harry Houdini]

Posted: 5/2/09 at 9:21am

And it is being revived in London...Very soon!!

http://www.companythemusical.co.uk/

I cant' wait!!!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/2/09 at 1:39pm

Not quiet West End or Menier as yet.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 5/2/09 at 5:33pm

Bloody hell! That poster design's a bit explicit isn't it?

It makes it look more like Sex in the City. Updated On: 5/2/09 at 05:33 PM

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/2/09 at 9:27pm

Very fringe.

[DeNada]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 4:08pm

This is a transfer of the production that played the Fringe last year; I remember getting an e-mail about it when they were looking for a theatre to transfer straight afterwards, although from the looks of things they've lost a few of the cast. IIRC it's a "white box" set; sounded quite interesting and got decent reviews in Edinburgh, guess we'll have to wait and see.

[hotjohn]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 5:49pm

What on Earth has an apple and a naked woman got to do with Company? It looks more like a sexy production of Snow White. I suppose they're hoping to entice a load of horny blokes to sit through a Sondheim.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 3:07pm

My thoughts exactly hotjohn!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 5/5/09 at 4:12pm

She's holding her breast as if to say 'Wheres my nipple gone?'

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/6/09 at 12:07pm

Yeah, I don't get how the symbolic Eve image relates to the show. The story is not about temptation and it does not revolve around a single female character. Anyone unfamiliar with the show seeing that graphic will be sorely disappointed when they leave the theatre. Now, if they wanted to go with the apple metaphor, a graphic with several women behind Bobby grasping for the apple he's holding would make a little more sense considering he's the one initiating the temptation as illustrated in You Could Drive a Person Crazy, but he can't follow through on commitment. But ultimately, it simply isn't what the show is about. Personally, I would go with a wedding ring frozen into the center of an ice cube.