COMPANY (1995 Broadway Revival)

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 7:18am

I just got this recording the other day, and saw that the production only played 60 performances.

Boyd Gaines is fantastic - but was it a limited run or did it just not do well?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 8:10am

It was a limited run and a lot better than most will admit.
There were so many talented Tony winners and nominees.
It would have moved to another house but the producers were not forthcoming to the creative staff and Sondheim publicly admonished them.
Gaines also had serious vocal problems during previews, the moving producers wanted him replaced but Sondheim and Scott Ellis refused to do so.

Updated On: 9/20/10 at 08:10 AM

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 8:23am

I like the cast recording although I know that many here do not. Gaines is good as is Debra Monk and I love Veanne Cox's Getting Married Today.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 8:27am

The transfer got as far as a marquee going up at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, but it fell apart on the issue of replacing Boyd Gaines with Michael Rupert, if I remember correctly. So the production ended as a limited engagement at the Roundabout.

[Almira]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 9:40am

I saw one its last performances. Gaines was out.

There was a lot of excitement about the return of COMPANY, but on the whole, the production was pretty tepid.

At the time Scott Ellis was the "gotta get" director. He was still riding on his hit revue AND THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND.

Yet, somehow, while being competent, his productions generally come off as "playing it safe".. which is well enough with something like SHE LOVES ME, but with COMPANY you ended up with an evening of sitcom scenes and songs.

Cox was a stand out as Amy. LaChanze seemed to be in her nightclub act. Monk gave it an admirable try.

Updated On: 9/20/10 at 09:40 AM

[once a month]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 9:50am

I went because I couldn't pass up the cast, who were all on the matinee I attended.

I agree with Almira-it was a tepid production. I barely stayed awake, actually dozing through Tick Tock and Marry Me a Little.

[newintown]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 10:20am

We all left the theatre soooo disappointed after this one - it began our hate affair with the Roundabout.

Veanne Cox was the ONE good thing about this production.

Debra Monk was trying NOT to be Elaine Stritch, but it left her no room to BE anything.

LaChanze sang "Another Hundred People" in its entirety with a big grin on her face. It was clear she had no idea what the words meant.

Boyd Gaines was out a LOT - we saw his understudy, James Clow, who was a lump of dull gray matter on stage.

Rob Marshall's staging looked like the choreography for a theme park revue or a show choir.

The orchestra was on another floor of the building, and the sound was canned to the nth degree.

The production was stupid, unsophisticated, and pointless.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 10:31am

I'd say Veanne Cox and Jane Krakowski were the standouts. I remember some very peculiar choreography in the opening number that looked like "Tradition".

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 10:38am

I'm surprised no press-reels or bootlegs have surfaced.

How was Charlotte's performance of "Tick-Tock"?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 11:49am

I didn't see this Company live (because, yes, I'm a fetus) but from everything I've been able to get my hands on, it seems like this production's main downfall was not for lack of talent at all, but that it sort of had one foot in the past and one foot in the present. It's a show that really needs you to pick a side, so to speak.

I've had an impossible time finding video footage of it anywhere online. You need to go to the Lincoln Center library and watch their recording.

Updated On: 9/20/10 at 11:49 AM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 11:52am

There were so many awesome people in the cast that I ALWAYS forget someone. Jane Krakowski, for example. Totally forgot she was April.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 1:15pm

This production was the most vanilla production I've ever seen of the show. It had no bite, no effort and was as dull as dishwater. Veanne Cox was the only person alive on the stage. Everyone else was phoning in their performance from Sardi's.

I saw Company in London and was amazed at all the nuances that cast found. They really worked to make it an interesting piece. (The only problem there was that they cut Tick-Tock which throws the show out of balance.)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 1:21pm

I liked it fine at the time. Like most people, I saw James Clow instead of Boyd. I LOVED Veanne Cox and her performance alone was worth the price of admission. Also, every episode of "30 Rock" I think, "I saw your boobies on the Broadway, Jenna." I liked Charlotte's dance, the only thing I had seen her in before that was "Carrie."

When I listen to the cast recording now I always wonder, "Did it sound that chintzy in the theater?"

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 1:25pm

I guess I'm one of the few people who saw Boyd Gaines as Bobby. I'm a big fan, but it was far from a perfect match of actor and role. His characterization was solid, but the vocal demands of the score were just above his head. Veanne Cox was brilliant and should have won the Tony. LaChanze was at sea. I remember Kate Burton's Sarah standing out as well.

Michael Rupert would have been excellent as Bobby.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 1:36pm

Yes, unlike some other Tunick orchestration reductions, I think the reduced Company sounded really anemic in the theatre. I remember the orchestra started that music that opens the show and it sounded like "Blee bloop, CLONK, boop, DOINK, blee bloop, CLONK, brapp, DOINK" and my heart just sunk.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 2:50pm

The production was dreadful for the most part and Gaines was terrible. He was back in the show when I saw it, but it sort of seemed like he had given up trying.
La Chanze and D'Amboise were terrible and whoever said that Monk was trying so hard not to be Stritch she ended up being noone was right on the money.

Cox was amazing, though. If it hadnt been such a difficult year at the Tony's she'd have won, but Duquesney was just as deserving...as was Choi and Menzel. All were stunning.

I did like Krakowski in her scene and remember that Diana Canova was charming.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 3:02pm

I forgot that that year was so strong in the Featured Actress category. Choi was absolutely amazing--the best Tuptim I've ever seen, hands down.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 3:38pm

Agreed...she was mesmerizing.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 4:11pm

I am proud to say that I have an autographed poster of the 95 "Company" production framed and hanging in my home office (a BC/EFA fundraiser, I think). I was thrilled to be able to see it, and Boyd Gaines was on that night. He wasn't great, but I had no complaints, either. I was glad to see him. And Debra Monk scared the hell out of me on "IIIIIIIIII'll drink to that!" I still get chills.

I also remember loving the "Side by Side" number, and Veanne Cox and most of the other women, La Chanze aside. She gave it an admirable shot, but it's not a good number for her.

The men were less interesting, though Jonathan Dokuchitz was appealing and Danny Burstein sang well, as I recall.

It's worth noting that this was a "traditional" revival, not a revisal or great reimagining of the show. NY hadn't seen "Company" in a quarter century, and needed to see the show as written, I think. It succeeded on those terms, though the orchestra sound was thin (a harbinger of future Sondheim revivals, I'm afraid). And it's also worth noting that Roundabout's theater was only in that building for like, four years or something? Very brief as Broadway houses go. It was built, and then it was torn down!

[newintown]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 4:23pm

"It's worth noting that this was a "traditional" revival, not a revisal or great reimagining of the show. NY hadn't seen "Company" in a quarter century, and needed to see the show as written, I think."

Broadway had not seen Company; ELT and the York had both done good revivals on Manhattan prior to this.

And this was not the original Company "as written" - orchestrations and keys were changed, the title song had different vocal arrangements and timing, and the show was not set specifically in the early 70s, but rather a sort of 1995 "anytime". And "Marry Me A Little" was added to the end of Act I, a decision that makes little sense, since the lyric says the same thing as the earlier "Someone Is Waiting" more or less.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 4:29pm

I stand corrected. I didn't do my research before typing! You are right that there were some changes from the original production. But I'm sure we can all agree that it was a more traditional Broadway (rather than New York) revival than the John Doyle version!

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 4:39pm

Did anyone see The York's production of Company. If I recall correctly, the late great David Carroll was Bobby. He must have been terrific.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 6:08pm

According to an interview I read with John Barrowman once, he was set to open the transfer as Bobby before the money men nixed a commercial run. Although Michael Rupert would seem like a logical choice too.

I'm a Boyd Gaines fan as well, but he barely gets through the role on the cast recording. He was very sick--he reportedly brought his laryngoscopy pictures to the theater to show people and his vocal folds looked like absolute hell. On a possibly-related note, it's interesting that all of Bobby's songs were lowered to baritone range for him. I wonder if any other musical revival of a classic show has also so drastically changed keys for a leading character.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/20/10 at 7:12pm

I'm also curious to hear if anyone saw the York's production. I don't know very much about it.

[once a month]

Posted: 9/21/10 at 3:42pm

Just remembered, Diana Canova, from the TV series SOAP was also one of the women in the cast. Has she done any theatre since?