Company Commentary Thread- Page 8
Company Commentary Thread
Clarinetbiter135
Leading Actor Joined: 6/16/04
#177re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pm
My goodness!
If you're going to a show that you've been told is being taped for Great Performances don't dress like you're going to a baseball game. Gosh, people.
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
dave1606
Broadway Star Joined: 12/8/07
#177re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pmThis was the last show my father saw before he died. He could not stop talking about it. I got student rush tickets for the front row. I am so glad they filmed it so that I will always have that memory.
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#179re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pmThem all saying "Happy Birthday Robert" at the very end and walking out took be back to the closing performance. Beautiful.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#180re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pmOh, I miss it so much.
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#181re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:18pmWait, Sondheim!
Now, mother always said that whenever you hear a strange, frightening, and potentially life-threatening ghostly chant coming from the dark woods that there's one thing that you should do: Not wake the others and go investigate it alone...
#182re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:18pmYou still in one piece, Em?
BroadwayBoobs: I'll give all of you who weren't there a hint of who took the pictures ...it rhymes with shameless
SOMMS: I knew it was Tink!
#183re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:19pmIf I hadn't seen this on B'way last February and knew it was coming out on DVD I'd be unfathomably angry, but atleast I got to see Ladies Who Lunch and Being Alive.
You're reminding me of people you hear at the movies asking questions every ten seconds, "Who is that? Why is that guy walking down the street? Who's that lady coming up to him? Uh-oh, why did that car go by? Why is it so dark in this theater?" - FindingNamo on strummergirl
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
misschung
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/18/07
#184re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:19pm
That's beautiful, Dave.
I wonder if Raul's interview is going to be on after this
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
MCfan2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/06
#185re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:21pm
I just realized that the first Raoul I ever saw in "Phantom," umpteen years ago, was in this (Keith Buterbaugh). Small world. 
I love "catching up" with actors again years later.
#186re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:21pmI hope so!
Now, mother always said that whenever you hear a strange, frightening, and potentially life-threatening ghostly chant coming from the dark woods that there's one thing that you should do: Not wake the others and go investigate it alone...
snl89
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/05
#187re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:22pm
Ok, so here's the conclusion I've come to having watched the show again:
I almost feel like, with the exception of a couple of songs (Being Alive being the most obvious), the show would work better WITHOUT the music. I just... am not a fan of the score. Sorry, I'm not. I love Marry Me a Little and Being Alive, and there are a couple of others that are alright, but over all the music actually made the show more boring for me. Truly, in the moments where it was just straight acting, I was SO captivated and I loved it. The writing for the straight scenes is just wonderful, and the entire cast was SO strong acting wise (Raul was still clearly my favorite, but I'm hugely biased of course hehe). I just really did not like a lot of the score, to the point where it was actually a turn off for me.
But that said, the performances were so good that it was still a beautiful, generally captivating piece of theater. And I am SO pleased with the way it was shot. OMG why can't all shows be filmed and released like that? Seriously, it was just GORGEOUS. It's such a great thing to have for posterity.
Oh, and once again I've come to the conclusion that Raul Esparza is one of the greatest stage actors of our time. Yup. :) Being Alive is SO FRIGGIN FIERCE it's ridiculous.
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
#188re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:26pm
Wow...just wow...I old-school taped it on a VHS but I might have to buy the DVD. This was beautifully directed and, of course, acted. I made everyone in my apartment stop talking during Being Alive. I had goosebumps. So powerful. I love PBS...I've been OD-ing on Jane Austen and now Company. I must donate so I can be one of the "Viewers Like You" they're always talking about.
"Nothing's lost forever. In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead." -Tony Kushner's Angels in America
Updated On: 2/20/08 at 11:26 PM
Clarinetbiter135
Leading Actor Joined: 6/16/04
#189re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:26pmoh! turned it off the station too soon! there were interviews!!!! ugh.....
#190re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:27pmIf you just had the book scenes, you would literally be seeing the same thing, thematically, over and over and over and over again. What makes Company work is the score, because you get that juxtaposition of complete static stillness against the arc. The scenes don't forward the action. You see Bobby sit around and observe time and time again. Bobby's arc is in his songs. You see him go from Someone is Waiting, which is this total ideal, to Marry Me a Little, which is impractical, to Being Alive, which is the reality. You would have exactly what Company began as without the score -- a series of one-acts.
balletandbroadway
Featured Actor Joined: 8/3/06
#191re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:27pm
How on earth did Raul lose to DHP again?
I saw the show, along with Curtains and Spring Awakening, a few days before the Tony Awards and thought, "Wow. There's no way he's going to lose that award on sunday."
It's a shame. Raul really, really deserved it over DHP.
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."-- Ferris Bueller's Day Off
#192re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:29pmHah, Tink, yeah. I had seen it already. The first time I watched it, though, I was crying from the very beginning.
misschung
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/18/07
#193re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:31pmIt's interesting, SNL, that you mention it might work better as a straight play, given what Sondheim just said in his interview. Musicals like Company with both positive and negative messages regarding marriage and relationships, and ambiguous themes generally haven't worked well in the medium of musical theater. I am just so in love with the score, and don't think that it would stand up well with only the book scenes. Another Hundred People wouldn't have a backbone, and I don't think the ending would be as unsettling.
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#194re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:32pmThat last interview with Sondheim is from the Broadway: The American Musical series. They just spliced in the new Company stuff. Interesting.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
karen24
Broadway Star Joined: 2/27/06
#195re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:33pm
Wow, I loved seeing this again. I saw it three times on Broadway (only twice with Raul; he was out the first time) but apparently I can never see it enough!
I'm really tired but had one quick question: did anyone else miss actually seeing the "birthday cake" go out at the end? I guess if I had to choose between seeing that and seeing Raul exhale, I'd pick Raul , but I kind of wish we could have seen both. Could it have been done in split screen, perhaps? A close-up of Raul on one side and a shot on the right showing the "cake" finally going out?
Maggie-the-schnoodle
#196re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:34pmangelic1 :) here's to being old-schooled, I taped it on VHS also.
#197re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:35pm
orlando peps
it will be rerun at 1am tonight
Attend the tale of Bovine Boy
His party threads we all enjoy
But does he have Mad Cow Disease?
He doesn't eat beef - but cows skating? - oh please!!!
With cocoa!?!
And lemonade!?!
The heifer-mad poster of Broadway
(World)
#198re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:35pmYeah, I'm not crazy about the profile shot. It's fine, but I would have preferred the whole picture.
Cape Twirl of Doom
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#199re: Company Commentary Thread
Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:37pm
Random thoughts:
I loved the interview with Sondheim! I'm glad I didn't turn off the TV after the credits rolled.
No bleeping here. Except I thought during "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" that the women call Bobby all sorts of names like "motherf***er" & "c**ksucker" but I didn't hear those. Everything else was complete.
Did anyone else notice a strange audio blip during "Someone Is Waiting"? It sounded like Raul sang "Sar-san" like he meshed both names together. Weird.
I loved the close-ups of Raul's facial expressions, especially at the end of "Side By Side." I never caught that sad look before.
Loved (most of) the camera angles and it looked absolutely gorgeous in HD!
"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"
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