COMPANY Reviews

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:13pm

The AP is Mixed-to-Negative:

"Bobby baby, why can't you play a musical instrument? Fear of commitment or just not musically inclined?

That nagging question permeates much of director John Doyle's chilly, high-concept revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Company," which opened Wednesday at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Doyle, you may recall, is the man who had actors doubling as musicians in last season's critically acclaimed production of another Sondheim classic, "Sweeney Todd." He does the same here, as we watch perpetual bachelor Bobby gaze uneasily at the relationships of several married friends as well as his own dealings with single, available women.

That theatrical multitasking worked well for the grisly tale of Todd, adding a weird dimension to the already creepy story of a murderous barber in 19th-century industrial London. With the more modern "Company," first seen on Broadway in 1970 and revived there in 1995, double duty seems unnecessary, a bit pretentious and limiting to the musical ambitions of Sondheim's fine score.

As a result, the episodic sketches concocted by book writer George Furth loom larger and more lethargically than in previous productions.

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Bobby's indecisiveness is accentuated by Raul Esparza's fidgety, sometimes mannered performance. This man telegraphs his emotions even if he doesn't articulate his feelings.

At one point, Esparza poses like a modern-day martyr, standing weirdly as if he were St. Sebastian against a looming white column that divides the Barrymore stage. Unlike Sebastian, though, he isn't pierced by arrows but by the stinging barbs of his critical friends.

Those friends are played by actors, who, like Esparza, appeared in this revival when it was done earlier in the year at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. They are a likable group, but they rarely raise the show's theatrical temperature.

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The show may not always be joyous, but it shouldn't be funereal, which is what occasionally comes across in this production. Maybe it is the monochromatic costumes. Or the spare, almost nonexistent setting, which has the actors quietly sitting on stage — sort of like in the cemetery scene from "Our Town" — when they aren't performing. There's even a vase of lilies on the baby grand.

By the time Bobby gets to his revelatory moment — "Being Alive" — and sits down at the piano, we are more than ready for his enlightenment. Esparza, who has a powerful voice, gives it his all. The man finally surrenders to his feelings, and for the first time during the evening, we are touched."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/29/entertainment/e142146S73.DTL

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 06:13 PM

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:16pm

Margo,

Did you forsee this as being the type of review COMPANY would get? Or, maybe this one is just a fluke?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:17pm

Ouch, bad start.

Someone hold my hand.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:19pm

*holds hand*

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:19pm

*holds hand*

Margo, the Times won't be up until much later, right?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:20pm

I am not moving from my computer until I see Brantley's review.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:21pm

Ugh, I'm really hoping that was a fluke.

[Horton]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:22pm

I hope it does well, but I think that this John Doyle story telling is getting very old very fast!

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:22pm

*makes a holding hand circle*

Not a great start. :-/

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:24pm

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let that be a fluke! PLEASE!

[Katecab99]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:28pm

*joins in hand holding circle*


Updated On: 11/29/06 at 06:28 PM

[LaCageAuxFollesFan]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:28pm

That had better be one huge fluke from KUCHWARA. Mixed-Negative? Are you kidding me? That piece of theatre is one of the best you are going to see this year. I Loved it! Here's my review that I posted a few days back.

https://nycriticscorner.broadwayworld.com/company.htm

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:29pm

We should like, make a circle, light candles, and hum, or something. =P

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 06:29 PM

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:30pm

Uh oh... *crosses fingers for the rest of the reviews to be positive for all, especially Raul*

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:32pm

*passes out cookies. And Xanax*

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:33pm

hums, lights candles.

Em, if it makes you feel better, my imaginary candles are scented like a certain somone's...

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:34pm

Heh. I'll just take the cookies.

Ok, I'm going to be serious now. Really.

(For those not in on the humor, I'm fine, really. Just antsy, and no, my life does not depend upon these reviews.)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:34pm

There's no predicting how the dozen or so major reviews that will be posted online tonight will go, but it wouldn't surprise me if more were like Kuchwara's. This is going to be a very polarizing show and critical opinion will likely be as divided as the opinions that have been posted here and at ATC (Brantley probably won't pop up until sometime after 8 or 9 -- and it wouldn't surprise me if he had problems with this production either).

I'm heading out to see a show shortly, so I'll leave it to you guys to post excerpts of any reviews that show up online while I'm gone.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:36pm

Margo! You cannot leave us!

I guess I'll assume the post?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:39pm

The only ones that'll be up in the next few hours will be Talkin Broadway (which should be up shortly), Variety (around 9 or 10), Theatremania (ditto), and the Times (anytime between 8 and 11 -- it's not consistent). The rest generally show up after midnight (though Newsday occasionally pops up early).

Oh and I guess the 6 year old at Broadway.com should be weighing in soon...........

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:40pm

*sigh*

At least it's an hour earlier here, so it feels like less time...

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:41pm

*salutes* Enjoy your show!

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 06:41 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:42pm

Oh, the 6-year-old will totally pan it. "Tarzan was better! Two thumbs down!"

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 06:42 PM

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:45pm

He'll say..."do my parents love me?"

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 6:45pm

The trend I've noticed on ARC and elsewhere is that the SWEENEY fans are generally cool to this COMPANY, and those that did not care for SWEENEY really loved COMPANY.