Posted: 7/23/16 at 7:16pm
W
Who saw the 1993 Long Beach Civic Light Opera production of Company, with Patrick Cassidy and Carol Burnett?
I remember when I wrote a paper for a ridiculously easy History of Musical Theatre elective I took which was about the revisions made to Company in the 90s (and why I didn't think they worked--everyone on here knows my thoughts by now :P ) that there was an article before the 1995 revival came out in the Times that mentioned that for a while it was thought that Company was too dated to get a major revival--but that the Long Beach production renewed interest in it (indeed, Veanne Cox is Amy in both productions). It's funny how in the early 90s Company seemed dated, but now with more distance from the original production (and NOT due to the revisions, if you ask me) it feels less dated. But I digress.
Anyway, I came across some video of the production on Robert Yacko's youtube channel (he played Paul) and was actually surprised at how strong I found them. Sure, the design is not impressive (I've read that was a constant issue with Long Beach Light Opera) but the acting and choreography seem better than a lot of revivals I've seen. I know LBCLO had a rep for casting shows around stars, and have seen clips of their Chess (with Jodi Benson and Yacko) as well as I think I've read that their production of Chicago is what created interest in the Encores/Broadway revival.
Anyway here's the Jenny and David "pot" scene, with You Could Drive a Person Crazy in the middle of it (with choreography that reminds me an awful lot of what Michael Bennett did in the TOFT video of the 1972 tour I saw). The other six videos (including Burnett's Ladies who Lunch and Wanda Richert's Tick Tock) can be found at the same link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcHD3HjKGow&list=PLbjLDpyVSZvKfvhfFEpfXjgZfOx1jgQRG&index=7
