Company Commentary Thread- Page 16

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 5:41pm

^ I think you hit the nail on the head, there. Really. Because Bobby appears as the odd one out, especially in "What Would We Do Without You?" (as much as the instruments got to be a wee distracting, I did love the emphasis on Bobby not playing anything, save for the kazoo).

Updated On: 2/27/08 at 05:41 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 5:41pm

Right, I agree. And that's why when he goes off on that whole thing about how "you're caught, see," and just when you want to get out of it, you can't, etc., it makes so much sense. A significant chunk of what Company is about is entrapment, and being stuck. And even though he's hanging out with these people as a sort of third wheel, I think he still feels that. He sees it, too, of course, and that's part of why he's afraid, but he definitely does have some feelings of being stuck. And that's another part of why John Doyle's staging was so effective, I think, because you had that kind of confined playing space between the sides of the square.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 5:45pm

Updated On: 5/7/09 at 05:45 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 5:49pm

I can't remember where I read this, but apparently very early on in the process, they thought about having Bobby literally not leave the stage for the entire evening. So he would be sitting there alone when the audience walked into the house; he would sit there by himself for the entirety of intermission, etc. Obviously it's a bit impractical, but I always thought the idea behind it was really effective.

Updated On: 2/27/08 at 05:49 PM

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 5:49pm

I loved that about his staging. The fact that the scenery never changes is brilliant because it's like a prison in a sense. It doesn't matter what the room looks like, to Bobby it's the person you're trapped with that is so terrifying. Marriage is marriage whether you live in a mansion or a one bedroom apartment.

And that's what makes the Barcelona scene somewhat humorous. Because of the fact he seems trapped, and when April says she's decided to stay... his "Oh God" almost seems like a cry for help...

Updated On: 2/27/08 at 05:49 PM

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 5:54pm

Updated On: 5/7/09 at 05:54 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:00pm

The image of that is just so sad. Poor Bobby.

(Somehow I think he'd have been hard pressed not to try to talk to the audience. Although I'm not sure that was part of the plan... )

They actually did rehearse it like that once, though, with just Raul on stage all alone and everybody else doing their thing from the sidelines. I can't remember where I read that, either. One of the cast members told me the story, but I know I saw it in an interview or a write-up or something, too. Maybe one of Kristin's columns? I wish I could remember where. I know it's kind of useless tidbit without a source.

Updated On: 2/27/08 at 06:00 PM

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:10pm

Updated On: 5/7/09 at 06:10 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:14pm

I thought that was in the CD pamphlet essay - probably not, thought. Raul has mentioned it a few times, but I can't access his latest interviews because his website is down. I'll look around for it when I get home.

Raul would SO have to fight the temptation to talk to the audience if that were the case.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:18pm

Updated On: 5/7/09 at 06:18 PM

[bestinshow2]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:20pm

That would have been so odd! Would he be in character? What about a toilet/ciggie break?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:37pm

Hmm, I don't think it's in the CD pamphlet. The essay Jeremy McCarter wrote in that is beautiful. I wish I could write like that.

Updated On: 2/27/08 at 06:37 PM

[overthemoo]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 6:50pm

best12bars... (nice username btw, meant to say that originally) heh, I understand you for not watching tv lately. But I do have to say, there are a couple shows that are well worth tuning in for. Unfortunately, they are usually in danger of cancellation first season or briefly after. Luckily for Pushing Daisies, ABC gave it a LOT of promotion and the fairytale love story helps regular television viewers get hooked in. Otherwise, it's really too quirky and witty for most (which is usually an automatic death sentence for a show) and did indeed lose some viewers because of it. Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Green are also on the show. :) The creator, Bryan Fuller (Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me), is a huge Broadway fan.
Here is a neat series preview if you are curious about the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLvMGGnLbQw

But yes, I do indeed understand your departure from Primtime - I'd be tempted to do the same because of ridiculous cancellations of fantastic shows like Firefly, Arrested Development and Wonderfalls. But I'm rather attached to The Office, Friday Night Lights and Pushing Daisies. :) And now Lost is getting good again!

Anyway -- back to Company!!

Nothing new there, indeed. (re: Sondheim = brilliant) It is indeed a very vague show but I also find it rather simplistic. I mean, we know the basics and that's all we really need to know. And as for the whole party deal, I figured as much that most of them do not know each other. Maybe they've been introduced on past occasions briefly, but mostly, they only have Bobby in common and are always there for him regardless of this gathering being otherwise unfamiliar and possibly uncomfortable for them. And I agree, I don't know if all of the best drama arises from that, but it's definitely possible if you have the right kinds of people in the room. And Bobby knows all kinds, so it's only a matter of time!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 7:32pm

But it's still important to remember that that party -- where they meet is *not* the surprise party that Bobby is hearing about on his answering machine. That's the one that never happens, because his friends can't find him.

Are you sure? Joanne mentions that he's 35 on the machine and then Harry says Bobby is 35 at the party.

[markus907]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 7:51pm

That's funny that you guys mention Raul having to be on stage for the whole time. I was recently involved in a show at my high school for which we built a black box theatre on our stage. During intermission it was my job to stand on stage in character as a prison guard, still, silent, looking at the ground. It was pure hell. Especially when people I knew were there. I couldn't imagine having to be out there the entire time the house is open.

[bestinshow2]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 8:00pm

PRS, I'm not sure if this is what you're getting at but one party is imagined and one is real. In an interview I read recently, Raul explains that Bobby goes out and gets stupidly drunk. He imagines the party as it happens in the show (I suppose the party during the Side by Side number) up until the final scene where we see that the real party never started because he never showed up.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 8:36pm

It actually seems that there are two imagined parties -- one during "Company" and the other during "Side by Side by Side." They come together for a party after Bobby hears the answering machine messages. The interactions of the couples at the "parties" are probably imagined based on what Bobby knows about each of them. In all likelihood, Bobby starts drinking after hearing the messages, and all of the rest of the scenes/vignettes are in his head, up until he doesn't show up for the final party. But I've always imagined that even that part is in his mind, since he wouldn't know their real reactions to his leaving (and the idea that they'd really be so complacent about it doesn't fit with what we see the rest of the show).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 8:42pm

Well, that's just his subtext as an actor, though. There's nothing in the text to support anything like that.

I know a lot of these questions have varying answers, but I just don't think all lapses of logic should be written off the the fact that it's conceptual.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 8:49pm

I agree with that. Even looking at it objectively, though (based on the OBC and other productions), it hasn't really bothered me that Bobby's friends don't know each other -- even if you see it as them living in the same building. Isn't that part of the way the city is? I know a lot of people who don't know their neighbors. It seems to always be the couple with Bobby, the unthreatening, fun bachelor, as a third wheel. They all want him for themselves, to have around or project onto, and that's part of why he's so smothered.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 8:52pm

It doesn't bother me, per se, it's just something I've always found puzzling.

Oh, and bestinshow2, what I was getting at was that I didn't get em's theory that the messages aren't referrring to the party in the first scene, because both the phone messages and the party confirm that he's 35.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 9:02pm

Updated On: 5/7/09 at 09:02 PM

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 10:44pm

That's true. There's basically nothing to support my notion that the end scene is also imagined. It just strikes me that, as Bobby hears his friends coaxing him along in "Being Alive," he might also imagine their reactions being positive when they realize he's left. Deep down, they want what's best for him, but I still don't see real-life them all simultaneously realizing that they should leave him alone.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/27/08 at 11:52pm

Yeah. I understand it to be that, in linear terms, Bobby comes home, hears his messages, finds out about the party, freaks out, breaks down, and then his friends come and he isn't there. Which would make the very opening scene and Being Alive through the end the things that really happen; everything in between is either remembered or imagined.

But again, ambiguous enough that you could easily see it a different way.

His friends giving up so easily on him at the end shows that while he's their friend and they care about him

Hmm. I agree, to a point, but I guess I see that moment with a little bit more of a positive spin. They get the message; they understand that they can't be talking at him like that anymore. I often wonder what would happen to Bobby after that night. And in turn, are his friends completely walking away from him and giving up on him, or are they just stepping back a little?

[Eos]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 12:07am

The PBS broadcast was my first exposure to the show, so maybe I'm missing something, but I thought of it as positive, too. I figured his friends were going to give him some space. Also, didn't they say they had been waiting for him for a couple of hours? After 2 hours, I'd leave too.

I ordered the OBCR and have been loving it. It's so 70's!

[bestinshow2]

Posted: 2/28/08 at 12:10am

I would think they're stepping back a little as opposed to giving up. I understood that development as his friends realizing that they can't be Bobby's trusted 'company' anymore, he needs to lead his own life. Perhaps they even leave because they understand he doesn't need them as much anymore?