COMPANY Revival On Tour - News & Discussion Thread- Page 11

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/4/24 at 7:57am

A.J. said: "Fingers crossed this tour makes a stop in Toronto in its second year."

this tour isn't running for a second year.

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 2/4/24 at 9:19am

I also took a day trip to New Haven yesterday. I am still kind of shocked this played there so early in the tour. Perhaps because Sondheim had a home in Connecticut. Anyway, I agree with most of the feedback in this thread. But one thing I have not seen mentioned is that a lot of the costumes have changed. It does seem like maybe they choose the costumes to suit the actors wearing them. Nothing bad but if you have seen this on Broadway, you will notice it.

I thought the overall choreography in Another Hundred People was different along with the new letters. On Broadway, they had added ensemble members and on the tour they do not. And I do not recall Joanne being such a focal point in that number on Braodway. I was happy to see most of the Broadway sets though with the main change being the terrace set.

A really strong and capable cast overall and well worth seeing but if you have seen the Broadway production, it might be underwhelming. 

 

[A.J.]

Posted: 2/4/24 at 10:28am

ACL2006 said: "A.J. said: "Fingers crossed this tour makes a stop in Toronto in its second year."

this tour isn't running for a second year."

Thanks for the heads-up. 

It’s such a bummer when shows launch a “North American” tour that never leaves the states.

Why not just call it a “National Tour” instead of teasing us Canadians? 

 

Updated On: 2/4/24 at 10:28 AM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 12:16am

I caught this at the Kennedy Center tonight and really enjoyed it. It was my first time seeing the show live, though I had followed this production on here since it started previews on Broadway (in March of 2020!). Company has a special place in my heart. The OBC was what got me into theatre. It was my first Sondheim and the first recording I was obsessed with. I played that record over and over on the way to school every single day for a solid three month period and then fell in love with it all over again when I found the Larry Kert recording. I’m quite familiar with the show, having seeing both recordings of the Doyle revival as well as the concert version with NPH and LuPone. I've been intrigued what this production would do with the revisal - and what Elliot and Sondheim had delved into beyond Furth’s text. I will say I didn’t come in completely blind - I have heard Lenk’s Tiny Desk rendition of “Someone Is Waiting” more times that I can count and though I know there were regular complaints about her vocal performance, I just adore it. Still upset we didn’t get a cast recording.

I thought the tour cast was all-across great, though no one gave a particularly revelatory performance. I oddly felt that Jed Resnick was a standout as David, a role that I usually don’t think much of. He brought a pathos to his role that made me think of the role differently, though the fact that the lines between David and his wife were swapped in this production gave him a lot more to work with.

Britney Coleman brought an assured presence to the show, and remained grounded and present throughout the entire performance. She isn’t performative - unless Bobbie is performing for her friends - and you really get the feeling she is actually listening and reacting to what’s going on around her, which some of the cast unfortunately didn’t. Britney gives the role a smiley gloss that hides something underneath, but I felt that she didn’t reveal what that was enough to build a performance around. Katrina has such an open face that you can read a thousand thoughts and meanings into one look or sigh. Britney doesn’t have that quality, and as a result her Bobbie is striking, assured, and in control… but she’s not haunting.

Britney has a wonderful voice, and in the first act she bridges her upper register with the lower in interesting and graceful ways. I feel the same about Craig and Lenk’s voices in the keys - clearly Elliot and Sondheim wanted the upper register to be utilized fully, not a full belt. "Someone Is Waiting" and "Marry Me a Little" had a drive, and her voice was more than capable. "Being Alive" was where her voice leapt into action, and she did the whole number in chest voice. I felt shades of Mother from Ragtime - the vocal journey of transitioning from the traditional upper register to belt as a mirror for the character’s freedom and catharsis.

Jacob Dickey was fantastic as Andy, and his chemistry with Britney was a highlight of the show. The “twin monologues” in the middle of "Poor Baby" was one of my favorite parts of the show. It reminded me that no matter how many people hate on Furth’s book, so much of it is genuinely hilarious. How many people have seen the book as originally performed in 1970? There were needless revisals for later productions (like the awful homosexual experience scene, which is thankfully cut here) that I think leads people to hate the book more than it deserves. I feel the same way about Goldman’s work in Follies and Weidmam’s work in Pacific Overtures, two other shows with books that are needlessly tinkered with for the worse.

Tyler Hardwick gave the show’s best vocal performance with "Another Hundred People" and came across appropriately loser-ish. David Socolar brought pathos to his scene, but without the original "Tick Tock," it’s a thankless part. Matt Rodin brought down the house with "Getting Married Today," though they spoke too many of the words for my taste. That song and scene were easily the biggest crowd pleaser of the first act though, and J**** DiShon Milton was a perfect partner for Matt to play with. The button of Bobbie asking Jamie to marry her doesn’t hit or feel true beyond a joke, which is a fundamental problem for the revisal that it seems they never figured out. There is no tension in the proposition, no belief that it will actually happen and it doesn’t make sense that it would trigger "Marry Me a Little" for Bobbie.

Judy McLane carried herself like a star and worked perfectly for the part. It didn’t hurt that she looked stunning in the club scene, reminiscent of Jan Maxwell as Phillis. I had been surprised to learn that she was in Were the World Mine, one of my absolutely favorite movies and one I’ve seen upwards of twenty times. I had high hopes and she mostly met them. It’s hard to chase away the phantoms of Stritch and LuPone - particularly when I have Patti’s perfect recording of "Ladies Who Lunch" from the Philharmonic concert playing in my mind every time I hear the song. I felt that Judy was too subdued in the song, though she definitely has the voice to pull it off. I wanted Joanne to go balls to the wall in that song, especially with how drunk McLane plays her. The book scenes were pretty perfect, with the staring scene providing the appropriate linchpin for Bobbie to jump into "Being Alive." I still think the scene would have been more effective if Joanne was propositioning Bobbie herself, not for Larry, but the actors made it work.

The set was pretty great - I loved the 35s hidden in each apartment. The one segment I disliked were the terrace scenes, which were literally a neon box with a railing in front of a black curtain. I found that disappointing and very tour caliber (that can’t have been how it was on Broadway!), but it was probably a total of 5 minutes of stage time. I think the rain effect in "Marry Me a Little" was cut when the production re-opened in 2021, but I found myself missing it, especially when Britney started pantomiming being in the pouring rain and getting soaked. I thought it would have added some extra heft to the end of the act.

This is playing the Kennedy Center Opera House, and you can tell this production wasn’t built for this stage. I got the impression the back half of the stage was curtained off and ignored. For those of us near the orchestra, the pit was laughably big for the band. The program lists David Cullin as the Orchestrator - did he do the tour reduction? I thought Tunick did the Broadway reduction. I mostly didn’t mind the reduction (though of course I would have loved the full orchestration) but the 9 pieces really weren’t enough during the dance segment of "What Would We Do Without You?" (particularly with the continued added bars) and "Tick Tock." I also missed the brass section in "Laddies Who Lunch" and "Being Alive." I paid $70 for a front-row seat, which was the perfect move. I think the show would be swallowed up from further back. I even felt removed from the Into the Woods tour at the Curran when I sat in the front row of the Mezzanine, and that’s a much smaller theatre.

As for the production, I wish I had gotten to see the Broadway version, because so much of the material did feel so mined for additional meaning and I found myself reexamining what the piece means in a new context. It was frustrating that it seemed that Elliot fixed 95% of the book and score to fit her vision, but stray lines would creep in and bring the facade crumbling down. And not innocuous lines (though Jamie’s quip that people would think he was pregnant was odd, but funny enough to look the other way), but major character beats! I have smaller knit-picks I could get into - "Side By Side By Side" / "What Would We Do Without You?" is sloppily staged and didn’t pack the punch it needed to; "Tick Tock" didn’t narratively justify its inclusion over the original dance; and some of the Sondheim lyric changes were needless and distracting, but I’m very happy to have seen the show and so happy that this one-of-a-kind production was fully brought to life across the country. This production was so special - I lived vicariously through all of you through its run - and it lives on in this tour.

During intermission I overheard the audience members behind me wondering if the character of Bobbie was supposed to be a man, what the original staging of “that song with all the phones” would have been in 1970, and why the title was Company. After the show, I heard people saying “it was a weird show” and “I don’t know what it was trying to say, but I’m happy she got what she wanted in the end.” It’s cool to see a show I know so well in DC and not NY, where I feel like most of the audience would be made of of Sondheim fanatics who know every word - and there were some of those there, the woman next to me turned around to let the girls behind us know that yes, Bobbie was originally a man and this was a “remake.” Hearing people talk and digest this special show was touching. It reminded me of what all good art does - worm itself into your very being and never let you go. That’s how I felt all those years ago when I first listened to that original cast recording. How confused I was by the repetitious birthday party scenes when I watched the Doyle video and later read the libretto (by the way, the birthday party framing device was perfection in this production, Elliot made its work seamlessly). Company has always been a puzzle that people are trying to solve, and this production is a worthy successor to that lineage. I hope the director of the 2045 revival was in the audience of the tour, getting excited about what theatre can be and what solution they have for this incredible piece.

[inception]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 10:09am

Thank-you for all your thoughts Sally.  I want to see the tour version, but I don't think I will be able to get down to Seattle the week it plays there this summer. 

$70 seems like a bargain!  I see in Seattle on the weekend the closest to the stage available now is mid-orchestra at $125.

I saw the show twice in its final week in New York.  I agree thst not quite everything worked with the gender flip, and certain lines in the script felt off.  But mostly I loved it.

I liked Katrina Lenk more in this than I did in Band's Visit.  I wonder when we will see her back on Broadway?  Might she be good for something in A Little Night Music if that ever is revived?  She might make a good Julie in Kaufman & Ferber's The Royal Family.  I wonder what ever happened to the musical of that?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 10:30am

I saw this production this production last week and enjoyed it a lot.  My only other exposure to Company was a touring production in the late 90s.  I actually preferred this production.

I had a few quibbles though.  The refrigerator door in the apartment set for Not Getting Married Today, looked quite beat up.  It was a bit distracting.

I also felt that Ladies Who Lunch brought the show to a screeching halt.  For some reason it didn't work for me.  

Overall I thought the performances were good, and liked Britney Coleman a lot.

I received a discount offer for tickets, but that was the day after I purchased mine.

[aliciag3]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:22pm

Sally Durant Plummer - Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts/experience!

Unfortunately Britney Coleman was out when I caught the tour (tho I did see and LOVE the Broadway cast and production).

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/31/24 at 5:24pm

Today is, supposedly, Jed Resnick’s final day with the tour. Anyone have info if he has extended or if they’re finally bringing in Matt Bittner?

edit: looks like Bittner is finally joining the show! 

Updated On: 3/31/24 at 05:24 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 6/7/24 at 12:56am

Planning to see the tour in San Francisco this weekend. Is this one where being close is better, even if you’re on the side? 

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 6/8/24 at 12:40am

bear88 said: "Planning to see the tourin San Francisco this weekend. Is this one where being close is better, even if you’re on the side?"


I saw the show opening night at the Orpheum. I think you’d probably be largely fine on the sides, but if you have a thing about being able to see the whole set. might be better to be slightly further back but close to center. The side sightlines at the Orpheum can be unforgiving, and this production takes place largely in boxes. I was seated in the rear orchestra, on the house left side of one of the center sections, and there were a few points where I couldn’t quite see everything happening in Bobby’s square box of an apartment, especially when it was stage left (house right). I don’t think I missed anything, but there were a few points where the action was ever so slightly cut off and I couldn’t see the decor on the stage right wall of the big central unit. From the rear Orch I had a good view of the performers, but would have liked to have been slightly closer to catch some of the more nuanced facial expressions. 
 

good, slightly uneven cast; I liked Britney Coleman a lot, though the keys chosen for this production sit uncomfortably for all the roles that have been gender swapped. Great work in the supporting roles from Matt Bittner and Emma Stratton as David and Jenny especially, and holy crap does Matt Rodin have stage presence - he just sets the production on fire in his big scene.

[bear88]

Posted: 6/11/24 at 4:04am

Saw this Saturday night, from about the same location as ChairinMain with an audience that, like me, was enthusiastic and hoping to love it. I have never seen Company in person. And while it was great to hear the songs and see some of the clever, if sometimes too clever, staging, the revisal didn't really work for me. Intellectually, it makes perfect sense to turn Bobby into Bobbie, with concerns about biological clocks. But Marianne Elliott's changes seemed to emphasize both the weaknesses of the original show and the awkwardness of trying to switch many characters' genders and update a show to the present day in half measures. And I'm with critic Helen Shaw who found the pivotal line change, "But who will take care of me?" to reveal everything that felt misguided. My expectations, alas, were too high.

Maybe, as my mind wandered during the dull book scenes, the Broadway cast was able to make all of this funny or compelling. (My younger daughter saw it on Broadway and thought it was fantastic.) I have seen filmed productions of this show, even a YouTube video of a small production, that were a lot more amusing and/or more pointed. Britney Coleman makes for an amiable, if not very interesting, Bobbie. She does well with "Being Alive," but there's nothing mysterious or haunted or anything about her. I can't really blame Coleman, though. Elliott really didn't give her much to work with. I liked Judy McLane as Joanne, Emma Stratton as Jenny, and Matt Rodin as Jamie. "Getting Married Today” is the directorial and and performance highlight of the show, and Rodin - along with Derrick Davis as a sweet Paul - do fine work. And then you get the weird, no-stakes marriage proposal and the show stops making sense again.

I thought afterward of the current Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, which was regarded for decades as the unfixable Sondheim musical - albeit with some great songs - but turned out to be one of the most satisfying shows I have ever seen. It gave me a new appreciation both for Merrily's cast and for the smart choices of director Maria Friedman. Maybe that musical is still just as flawed as the touring production of Company, and needs a perfect cast to catch lightning in a bottle, but I never thought about those much-discussed imperfections for a moment while watching Merrily.

Updated On: 6/11/24 at 04:04 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/11/24 at 7:47am

The production was a much different experience on Broadway. Sondheim called Elliot’s revival the “the best production of a musical he’s ever seen.” What is touring doesn’t even come close to the magic that was on Broadway. 

[inception]

Posted: 6/11/24 at 8:13am

Bummer.  The Broadway cast did help gloss over things like the "no-stakes marriage proposal."  

I can't get down to Seattle the week it plays there in July, and that's bummed me out a bit.  But maybe it is better to just keep the Broadway version in my memory.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 8:28pm

Kathryn Allison who plays Sarah finishes her time with Company tonight after 4 years with the show on Broadway and tour.

Updated On: 6/29/24 at 08:28 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 11:12pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Kathryn Dallison who plays Sarah finishes her time with Company tonightafter 4 years with the show on Broadway and tour."

 

It's KATHRYN ALLISON. I wonder who's replacing her? Maybe Paige Faure since A Beautiful Noise is closing?

 

[MatthewS1]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 3:06pm

Is Jen Simard doing anything this summer? Would they bring her in for the LA stop to sell some tickets?

Sounds like Kathryn is leaving for something new. Excited to see what's next for her! 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 5:21pm

I believe Jessie Hooker Bailey is the new Sarah

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 7/2/24 at 12:08pm

Jessie Hooker Bailey officially joins the tour as Sarah tonight!

[decotodd]

Posted: 8/12/24 at 6:24pm

Saw the show in LA at the Pantages yesterday. Was rather underwhelmed. Agree with poster above who felt the performances amateurish. Something was missing for sure. Didn't see the Broadway production. I liked Judy McLane a lot as Joanne; reminded me as another post mentioned of Jan Maxwell in FOLLIES. Not over-the-top as Lupone can be. Found Britney Coleman to be amiable but lacking charisma -- like a lesser Sutton Foster (her vocal timbre similar). BEING ALIVE left me cold -- aren't we supposed to be moved? I recall Esparza's devastating performance in the prior revival. 

I loved the staging of GETTING MARRIED -- genuinely laugh out loud funny. We got an understudy for Rodin, not sure who but he was black. Didn't really delivery the rapid fire lyrics; more spoken. 

Nobody other than McLane really stood out, although I found Bittner touching. 

It feels like they keep adding more dialogue to the book scenes with each revision and the result is long stretches that just drag the pace. I don't think I've ever found the diet/on the wagon/judo scene funny --- certainly not yesterday; it felt forced and subpar sitcom-ish. 

Having most recently seen MERRILY and realizing what an amazing feat of casting, chemistry and direction that was -- left my in tears; this one --- meh. 

 

Updated On: 8/12/24 at 06:24 PM

[MatthewS1]

Posted: 8/13/24 at 12:45pm

Marina Kondo took her final bow as Susan on Sunday. Understudy Elysia Jordan steps up to fill the role for the rest of the tour. 

[MatthewS1]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 12:05pm

According to Britney Coleman, the tour recouped. I’m honestly surprised- it sold terribly in St. Louis but I guess it’s found success in the major metropolitan areas. Congrats to all involved!!

[South Florida]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 4:38pm

I did not like this revival. The show was set in 1970 and didn't need changing.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/16/24 at 4:58pm

MatthewS1 said: "According to Britney Coleman, the tour recouped. I’m honestly surprised- it sold terribly in St. Louis but I guess it’s found success in the major metropolitan areas. Congrats to all involved!!"

The nature of tour finances are much different than Broadway:

the tour presenter (let's say it's the Fox in St. Louis) pays the production a Guarantee.

Using simple numbers, let's say the guarantee is $100,000: if the engagement makes $75,000, the production still receives $100,000. If it makes $200,000, then there's a box office split for any money above the Guarantee amount. The show is also part of a subscription, so people aren't deciding to purchase individual tix. Ideally the venue is going to be able to hit the Guarantee with subscribers alone, so any single ticket sales is just bonus money. (This is why it's helpful when there's a hot new show - like the early days of Hamilton or Phantom or Mormon or Wicked - on a subscription.)

Subscribers + guarantees + shorter engagements in larger houses can lead to a quicker recoupment time for a tour compared to Broadway.