Company Commentary Thread- Page 8

[WickedRedX]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:15pm

That was an awesome show. I loved it!

[Clarinetbiter135]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:16pm

god bless pbs

[Eris0303]

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.

[dave1606]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pm

This 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]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pm

Them all saying "Happy Birthday Robert" at the very end and walking out took be back to the closing performance. Beautiful.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:17pm

Oh, I miss it so much.

[spidey_882]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:18pm

Wait, Sondheim!

[MotorTink]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:18pm

You still in one piece, Em?

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:19pm

If 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.

[misschung]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:19pm

That's beautiful, Dave.

I wonder if Raul's interview is going to be on after this

[MCfan2]

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.

[spidey_882]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:21pm

I hope so!

[snl89]

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.

[angelic1]

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.

Updated On: 2/20/08 at 11:26 PM

[Clarinetbiter135]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:26pm

oh! turned it off the station too soon! there were interviews!!!! ugh.....

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:27pm

If 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]

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.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:29pm

Hah, Tink, yeah. I had seen it already. The first time I watched it, though, I was crying from the very beginning.

[misschung]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:31pm

It'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.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:32pm

That last interview with Sondheim is from the Broadway: The American Musical series. They just spliced in the new Company stuff. Interesting.

[karen24]

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?

[Malice]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:34pm

angelic1 :) here's to being old-schooled, I taped it on VHS also.

[harris007]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:35pm

orlando peps


it will be rerun at 1am tonight

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/20/08 at 11:35pm

Yeah, I'm not crazy about the profile shot. It's fine, but I would have preferred the whole picture.

Updated On: 2/20/08 at 11:35 PM

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

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!