COMPANY reviews, take two- Page 2

[WesternSky2]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:29pm

Couldn't be happier.

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:30pm

Check out the multimedia with Raul on the NYTimes review page.
Some GREAT pictures!

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 10:30 PM

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:33pm

OMG OMG OMG OMG
wow I can't belive I just typed OMG but who gives a crap he LIKED IT! HUrrahhhhh
Updated On: 11/30/06 at 10:33 PM

[almostxfamous]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:33pm

Wow. Great review. Wow. Raul does need to make room on his mantle. This is a long time coming. Amazing.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:34pm

What a fabulous review! I'm so happy Brantley liked it.

I get the feeling some of these other critics are dismissing the actor-musician concept without totally understanding it's significance in this show.

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:36pm

Congrats to Raul, Doyle, and the rest of the cast, who are all far too deserving of this.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:38pm

I hope Raul wins the Tony. Though I did not enjoy it as much as I wanted to on first viewing, I will definitely see COMPANY again with an open mind. Totally agree with Brantley's positive notices for Esparza and Walsh though...both were fabulous.

[jsand25]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:39pm

just a question...How do the reviews come out so fast?

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:39pm

Congratulations to everyone in the cast and involved in the production!

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:40pm

Do you mean to ask how they're out the night of the opening performance? If yes, reviewers attend preview performances and write reviews prior to opening night, so that they can be released on opening night.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:40pm

He very much liked and respected and appreciated the production a great deal.

But he unabashedly loved Raul.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:43pm

Wow, thank you, Brantley.

I'm thrilled. Congratulations, Company.

Brantley has that odd way of being incredibly perceptive with his descriptions, but often leaving you unsure of what he really thought -- or of being such a wordsmith, but never really saying straight-up that he liked something. That doesn't always work for me, but when it does, I think he nails it. Adjectives of praise just hold no weight anymore, so you've got to go deeper. So even if it is a Brantley rave, it doesn't at first glance feel like a rave.

This is my favorite part:

"Watching the couples carp and bicker in black-out vignettes — practicing karate, experimenting with pot, visiting a discothèque — you may wonder why Bobby would ever be envious of them (which has always been a problem with “Company”). It’s when they make music together that you understand."

And I love love love the photos.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:43pm

Brantley's review is like poetry.

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:45pm

The most important review is a rave. Thank God!

I wonder if Clive Barnes liked it, because he notably HATED the show in 1970.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:45pm

Seriously. How refreshing to see a writer who actually knows how to write these days. What a great review to read.

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 10:45pm

I think Brantley nailed some of the things people have been quibbling with, like what Emcee posted above, and this bit as well:

"Though he sings beautifully throughout — in ways that define his character’s solipsism — he brings transporting ecstasy to the agony of the concluding number, in which Bobby finally joins the band of human life."

[luvtheEmcee]

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

Everything else seems small after the Times excitement, but here's Variety:

"Funny, melancholy and moving, Doyle's elegantly spare production is set in no specific time. Via certain lyrics and such period staples as a pot-smoking scene, it remains rooted in the 1970s but bristles with anxieties that feel entirely contemporary.

With one or two exceptions, this is not the youngest, sexiest "Company" cast ever assembled, but the older ensemble pays dividends. These are jaded married couples and battered dating-scene refugees, after all, either beyond the first flights of passion or rendered too cautious and fearful by experience to embrace it."

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"As Robert, the central figure marking his 35th birthday by pondering why he's the only one of his circle not married, Raul Esparza strikes just the right balance of easy charm and circumspect distance, alone even in a crowd of friends. He's a deeply ambiguous mass of swirling contradictions -- confused but self-knowing, seductive but standoffish, vulnerable but heavily armored, open to love but ambivalent. And Bobby's sexual identity is called more directly into question here than perhaps ever before.

Esparza has been hovering on the brink of Broadway stardom for some years, and this is a terrific role for him with his sad-eyed, brooding good looks, wry humor and passionate singing voice. In the past, he has often cranked up the vibrato a little strenuously, but he's in fine, controlled voice here -- robust at times, soft and sweet at others.

Esparza's "Marry Me a Little" is especially moving, with Bobby desperately talking himself into the notion of commitment if not the object; his "Someone Is Waiting" harnesses the pain and panic of isolation; and he conveys mixed feelings of tenderness and dishonesty in "Barcelona," Bobby's doleful morning-after duet with flight attendant April (Elizabeth Stanley), in which a grand piano takes the place of the bed."

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"The ensemble express themselves and communicate with each other through their instruments, either in synch or disharmony as couples. Trumpets and flutes begin to seem as logical an accessory for these sophisticates as a handbag, cigarette or cocktail. The latter actually becomes a percussion instrument for Joanne in her backhanded ode to connubial bliss, "The Little Things You Do Together." In a droll touch, the doo-doo-doo-doos traditionally sung by Bobby's trio of frustrated flings in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" are played by the girls on saxophones. Given the musical demands on the cast, the dance number "Tick Tock" has been understandably dropped.

Doyle's concept works splendidly in the emotional climax, when Bobby, heretofore not allocated musical duties, expresses his release and newfound openness by tentatively sitting down to play piano in "Being Alive," stirringly sung by Esparza."

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"As in the director's "Sweeney Todd," the blocking here takes precision to new levels as the actors maneuver their instruments around Gallo's stylish set dominated by a central column and plexiglass cubes, with swivel chairs on an elevated platform behind. Compensating for the switch from the semi-thrust stage for which the production was conceived at Cincinnati Playhouse, a parquet square provides a false thrust around which the ensemble pace like satellites in Bobby's troubled head."

Link: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932218.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

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

[Fantabulous428]

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

USA TODAY:

"It seemed like a great idea: Bring a classic Stephen Sondheim musical back to Broadway, with John Doyle, who directed last season's acclaimed Sweeney Todd, on board.

But while Doyle's new Company (* * * out of four) has a number of elements to recommend it, the whole is less than the sum of its considerable parts.

That's a shame, because in many ways, Sondheim and librettist George Furth's 1970 study of love, marriage and perpetual bachelorhood seemed a more natural fit for Doyle's minimalist approach, which requires actors to double as musicians. However fascinating his Sweeney was, fans may have missed Jonathan Tunick's original orchestrations, which served the show's glorious score to lush perfection."
____________________________________________________________

"But the show as a whole has not aged as well as its music, at least not judging by this interpretation (which also draws on 1995 productions). For all their elegant ennui and implied sexual quirks, Company's urban sophisticates seem very much like the pre-baby boomers they technically are. Having them saunter around in Ann Hould-Ward's dark, sleek costumes, flirting and fighting and drinking and smoking, Doyle lends a tone of self-conscious pseudo-hipness."
____________________________________________________________

"Raul Esparza's vaguely smart-alecky Robert doesn't help. Though smart and attractive, he lacks the charisma that draws Company's protagonist to women and men.

Others fare better. Barbara Walsh's dry, haunted Joanne is a standout, bringing an extra layer of rage to Sondheim's brilliant barbfest The Ladies Who Lunch. Heather Laws and Elizabeth Stanley amuse as neurotic Amy and dizzy April.

Not everyone in Company's company manages to transcend the chinks in this imperfect but intriguing production. Still, like one of Bobby's fleeting lovers, this crowd is worth spending an evening with."

Full review:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2006-11-29-review-company_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 11:19 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

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

Whoops. :)

USA Today:

"It seemed like a great idea: Bring a classic Stephen Sondheim musical back to Broadway, with John Doyle, who directed last season's acclaimed Sweeney Todd, on board.

But while Doyle's new Company (* * * out of four) has a number of elements to recommend it, the whole is less than the sum of its considerable parts."

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"However fascinating his Sweeney was, fans may have missed Jonathan Tunick's original orchestrations, which served the show's glorious score to lush perfection.

Company's individual songs are just as scrumptious, but more readily accommodate bare-bones arrangements; and for this production, which opened Wednesday at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, musical supervisor Mary-Mitchell Campbell has fashioned a string of witty, winning ones."

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"For all their elegant ennui and implied sexual quirks, Company's urban sophisticates seem very much like the pre-baby boomers they technically are. Having them saunter around in Ann Hould-Ward's dark, sleek costumes, flirting and fighting and drinking and smoking, Doyle lends a tone of self-conscious pseudo-hipness."

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"Raul Esparza's vaguely smart-alecky Robert doesn't help. Though smart and attractive, he lacks the charisma that draws Company's protagonist to women and men....

... Not everyone in Company's company manages to transcend the chinks in this imperfect but intriguing production. Still, like one of Bobby's fleeting lovers, this crowd is worth spending an evening with."

Full review: http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2006-11-29-review-company_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA

Updated On: 11/29/06 at 11:21 PM

[munkustrap178]

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

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-etledew4994185nov30,0,6595219.story?coll=ny-theater-headlines


Newsday is up, and Winer basically raves about it. A tame rave, but still very positive.

She says that Raul is giving a breakthrough performance.

I'll let Emcee copy the actual text...I'm far too lazy.

[TheaterAddict7652]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 11:23pm

Congratulations to the entire cast and crew!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/29/06 at 11:26pm

Heh, okay.

Newsday:

"British director John Doyle, who radically reinvented Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" last season, has triumphed again - more gently this time, and with less at stake. As in "Sweeney," the actors also play instruments onstage. With "Sweeney," however, Doyle was tampering with a massive repertory staple that had already worked magnificently in operatic and chamber versions."

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"The novelty remains Doyle's technique of using actors as their own orchestra. The news is that he utilizes the style to save the show - turning it from an episodic concert to a cohesive and satisfying emotional experience. His version combines material from the original and the 1995 revivals here and at London's Donmar Warehouse. Somehow, he has made more than a few scenes feel so fresh, even daring, that we had to check the script to make sure we'd heard most of them before."

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"Esparza, looking relaxed yet detached in a charcoal suit and tie, turns his seductively sleepy eyelids into virtuoso instruments. Although he has played plenty of flashy roles, Esparza cleverly builds tension by holding back until he breaks loose at the piano for Bobby's ultimate (if psychologically dubious) acceptance of "Being Alive."

Mostly, he dares to sing with his arms hanging at his sides. He also observes from the curve of the baby-grand piano or he stands on the radiators that surround the huge column dominating the spare set (by David Gallo) with its retro-Lucite modules and pre-war architectural detail. Esparza finds all the bitterness, hope, bemusement and sullen charm in the colors of his voice."

[luvtheEmcee]

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

NY Daily News:

"How do you take a ground-breaking Stephen Sondheim musical about commitment in the big city, with such a memorable score and murderous wit, and turn it into a suburban vanilla revue?

Director John Doyle has managed that dubious feat with his new version of "Company," which opened last night at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The production originated in Cincinnati."

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"The ensemble is overall bland and none of the characters ever comes alive. While the set is sleek, the costumes are anything but. The men are stuck in frumpy sweaters and baggy suits. The women, in beads, bows and black lace, just look cheesy.

Doyle's lethargic direction saps the edginess and vitality. He has largely stripped the show of movement, except when performers circle the stage with their instruments, periodically stopping to speak."

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"As Bobby, Raúl Esparza works hard at acting aloof, only to turn on the technique full blast when he sings his finale. "Being Alive" is an anthem of affirmation. Here, it's a wail.

Believe me, I felt his pain."

Ouch.

Full review: http://www.nydailynews.com/11-30-2006/entertainment/col/story/475750p-400194c.html

[Shiksa Goddess2]

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

Congrats to Company!!! So, is it pretty much equal on who likes it and who doesn't, or is it leaning one way or the other?

[ashley0139]

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

They got the Times... wow. That's great! Congratulations to the cast and crew.