Raúl Esparza to Star in John Doyle-Helmed Company Revival- Page 2

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 3:59pm

I know this is such a dumb question but Im totally blanking out. Does Bobby sing BEING ALIVE?


Lord, to hear Raul sing BEING ALIVE...Gahh...*falls out of computer chair and dies of excitment*

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 4:08pm

Planning my trip now...i'll be on spring break during that time. its only a 8 hr drive! ha.

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 4:12pm

I really think Doyle's sweeney staging is a one trick pony. Im fine with actors playing instruments because they are in an asylum, but to put the same concept of actors playing instruments in company--i guess i just don't get it. Firstly, it seems unambitious on Doyle's part, secondly, Company is so based in the real world, how will he possibly justify the characters playing their own music. Oh well, i dont really think Company is even relevanttoday, so we'll see how this turns out.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 4:15pm

I agree with you, Theatreboy. It's really neat with Sweeney, but to do it for another show seems lazy.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 4:25pm

I think Company may be the most relevant today (with some tweaks)
Also, it may be one trick pony, but the concept really fits Company to me, maybe even more than Sweeney.
The show is all so internal to start with, it lends itself to abstraction. New York socialites with their instruments.

Also, Bobby does sing "Being Alive" and that makes me there because of the Raul casting all by itself.

[angelic1]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 4:30pm

Ok, I'm going. So I have to drive from NYC to Ohio. Ah well, I'm doing it. Spring break means I'll be there for opening night, baby! I love Company and I would drive to Cincinatti just to hear Raul sing 'Being Alive'. Anyone else gonna be there opening night?

[fiatlux]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 4:53pm

"I really think Doyle's sweeney staging is a one trick pony"

I've known John Doyle's work for around 15 or so years and I can assure that it's not. The productions are all very different and to be honest after you get used to it, the fact that actors are playing an instrument is not such a revolutionary idea, it just becomes another facet of their performance.
Updated On: 11/14/05 at 04:53 PM

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 5:08pm

"New York socialites and their instruments." Well apparently I've been attending the wrong parties. That, or Woody Allen movies have really been misinterpreting NY socialites. Perhaps parties have both a coatroom and an saxaphone case closet. Im sorry, i dont mean this as an attack or to be mean-spirited. The term just made me laugh. we'll see how it turns out. too early to judge. those were just my off-the-bat feelings.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 5:40pm

I didn't mean it literally, certainly not that socialites play instruments at parties. I simply meant that the concept of New Yorker's at a party with instruments works as well as insane asylum inmates using them.
To me though, It is not the case that the "characters play instruments," with Sweeney at least the instruments are an extension of the actor, they work as if they were a part of the actor's voice.

I understand what you are saying and don't feel attacked at all. Misunderstood maybe, but that happens if you take what I say literally, it tends to sound pretty insane.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 5:54pm

I am waiting for Dracula with everyone playing their own instruments. Than again you could have a revival of Oh Calcutta done the same way or didn't they do that in the original production ?

Mull & discuss

[mebice]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 6:00pm

YES! God has blessed ohioans! I will be there! My friend goes to CCM and everything so I have a place to stay after that 5 hour car ride. I might drive down to see it a couple of times, but I might be in rehearsals with Vincent Dowling at that time....YEAH!!! !

Its sondheim...but its Raul...so its still worth the five hour drive. :)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 6:52pm

haha, no, I didn't implode. I was at the Rent CD signing.

The chances of getting out there are very, very small for me; I don't think my parents would let me travel halfway across the country to see Raúl, but that is the week of my twentieth birthday, so maybe they'll reconsider. It's okay. He won't be gone forever.

In any event, and in unselfish terms, I'm glad he's got something else lined up so fast, because he should ALWAYS be working.

Good for you, Raúl.

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 7:18pm

I get to see this in March! On Meet the Artists Day! I'm glad I live in Cincinnati for once. (:

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 9:43pm

This is amaaazing for Raul. I'm so happy he got something else so quickly, because as Emcee said, he should ALWAYS be working.

Company + Raul = Wonderousness.

Yesssss. But whyyyy not here. Why.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:20pm

Hey, I'm all for John Doyles excellence in taking great shows and taking them farther to new places. A company revival would be one of the top 5 best shows that I would love to see revived. However, Raul.... I know I'm absolutely in the minority here on this one but I pray he doesnt butcher those high notes.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:30pm

He has a ridiculous range; he can definitely do it. The only reason for thinking he can't is not liking the sound of his voice ON the higher notes, which is certainly valid.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:39pm

Ok, yes you definitely put it that way for validity. I do know he is insanely capable but eventually it can irritate me but hooray for awesome production with a good name in it

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:40pm

Well, I certainly think he has enough sense not to scream a show like Company the way he screamed Rocky Horror or Taboo. He can sing it legit, I'm sure.

But I know some people don't like the wacky vibrato, and that's cool. Either way you slice it, he's a hell of an actor.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:50pm

Well I loved it in rocky horror, it was so fitting and awesome, I even complimented him on it after Chitty, but Chitty however I did not like it in much at all. But best of luck to him in Company, great show

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:51pm

Definitely pro Raúl, but I do agree it's kind of cheap to recycle the instruments thing from Sweeney Todd. I don't really see any justification to have the characters play their own instruments. Plus, doesn't this rule out extensive choreography? I think dancing benefits Company. Also, where Sweeney Todd is loaded with solo numbers, Company is loaded with chorus numbers. Complicated chorus numbers that involve people speaking rapidly on and off. I guess I can see the accompaniment relying on guitar and drums, I just don't hear it sounding very nice in my mind (even in the Sweeney revival, for how cool it was, I missed the big orchestrations). I just don't want to hear a reedy piano backup. And also the subject matter is already so intellectual... I think it's just gonna come off a bit pretentious.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 11:04pm

I REALLY hope Raúl plays the guitar!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 11:05pm

I was just about the say that.

[greatdct]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 11:06pm

I will have to be peeled off of the floor if that happens.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 11:10pm

I jsut find that there will be many more limits on this than sweeney in terms of choreography and tying up the actors with instruments. I mean Sweeney Todd has much more simpler percussion than Company and Company involves so many actors at once, I can't imagine filling in spaces while one person juggles another thing, I just find this one a little too much. However, I can't complain, its Company, thus my name. However there WILL be a problem if I dont see this come here to N.Y.!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 11:13pm

Well, just because the director is the same doesn't mean he'll choose the exact same concept. Sure, his work will have similar strains, I'm sure, but there's no rule saying it's got to be exact in order to preserve his style. We shall see...