Company Previews Thread — Page 20

Thanks, Taffy. I bought a second row seat for $59...I can't complain if I miss an entrance or two.

I was at the third preview tonight, and it will be my last time for a little bit. The show is getting tighter but still ran around 2:50. I think it's just going to end up being a long show.

Audience was extremely enthusiastic and receptive tonight, more so than last night. You could really feel that the crowd was having an enjoyable time.

The cast keeps getting stronger, and this was probably the best Lenk has sounded out of all three performances. Her acting continues to really impress me. I love how she portrays Bobbie as living in a bad dream. It gets worse and worse until she makes her decision at the end, and she is finally relieved of the anxiety induced by her overbearing friends.

I noticed this during 2020, but Patti never gives the same performance twice, it's amazing how she changes things up from night to night. She is really doing some fine work on that stage.

I also need to note how utterly perfect Claybourne Elder is as Andy. His is another performance that seems to just get better with each show. I think he could be a major Tony contender with this role. He and Lenk are such a perfect pair, and I love every interaction they have together.

I've said it in 2020, and will say it again, the orchestra for this revival is absolute perfection. David Cullen's fresh orchestrations are the finest this score has ever had since the iconic 1970 orchestrations. His work blows away the 1995/1996 Tunick reductions.

I can't wait to see the shape this production is in by opening night. It's such a special evening of theater.

Updated On: 11/18/21 at 12:09 AM

I appreciate the further analysis. A friend I trust went last night and said Conte "knocked it out of the park," so perhaps my biases are indeed about the timbre of the voice, not the singer's gift/ability. It's not the first time my response to a particular quality ended up a misreading of technique or vocal ability. In my defense (!), "Another Hundred People" is one of the few Sondheim songs that inspires that level of expectation. Again, I trace it back to Pamela Myers, whose first take remains so thrilling it laid down a gold standard.

But to your bigger point, shifting the song to a male voice should allow some room for a new sound entirely. It's possible that a -- what, Adam Lambert? -- might be unduly showy, not serving the character. I'm probably not entirely sure that I've made the adjustment to the male disposition imposed on the character. It's certainly possible for the sensibilities in the original Marta to be transposed; but I probably bring gender bias to my reservations about these cascading observations erupting in a dude.

I will see the show next month and decide. For what it's worth: I saw the original B'way production, if late (Jane Russell iteration, the great Marian Hailey as Amy) and have seen ever subsequent one, plus the national company when Julie Wilson played Joanne. I don't come to any Company chat without experience -- and again, biases.

Updated On: 11/18/21 at 09:22 AM

I remember a lot of people thinking Esparza was quite cold/icy as Bobby, as well as the entire Doyle production for some).

Thrilled to read so many positive notices. Seeing this around Christmas (23rd).

BroadwayGirl107 said: "JasonC3 said: "I remember a lot of people thinking Esparza was quite cold/icy as Bobby, as well as the entire Doyle production for some)."

That’s actually shocking to me. His portrayal was full of life and visceral. He felt like a volcano ready explode most of the show and was incredibly vulnerable. The emotional shift at the end was like an eruption. I guess it set the standard for me for how deep and big the emotions in this show can go."

I agree and I think the iciness was intentional, something alluded to in the NYT review:

"But if Bobby the bachelor, embodied with riveting understatement by Raúl Esparza, at first comes across as a man of ice, it becomes apparent that he is in a steady state of thaw. Given the subliminal intensity that hums through Mr. Esparza’s deadpan presence, you sense that flood warnings should probably be posted."

JasonC3 said: "BroadwayGirl107 said: "JasonC3 said: "I remember a lot of people thinking Esparza was quite cold/icy as Bobby, as well as the entire Doyle production for some)."

That’s actually shocking to me. His portrayal was full of life and visceral. He felt like a volcano ready explode most of the show and was incredibly vulnerable. The emotional shift at the end was like an eruption. I guess it set the standard for me for how deep and big the emotions in this show can go."

I agree and I think the iciness was intentional, something alluded to in the NYT review:

"But if Bobby the bachelor, embodied with riveting understatement by Raúl Esparza, at first comes across as a man of ice, it becomes apparent that he is in a steady state of thaw. Given the subliminal intensity that hums through Mr. Esparza’s deadpan presence, you sense that flood warnings should probably be posted.""

Right, but I think this is very different from the coldness I get from Lenk. One never got the feeling that an actor as explosively emotional as Esparza was not keeping the lid on big feelings. My complain about Lenk is that her capacity for that feeling—or at least to go there as an artists in front of an audience—seems limited. Esparza’s shift felt like his entire world and identity came crumbling down and he needed to start anew; to me Lenk’s emotions never felt bigger than a breakup from a very brief relationship with someone she was lukewarm about to begin with.

Auggie27 said: "I appreciate the further analysis. A friend I trust went last night and said Conte "knocked it out of the park," so perhaps my biases are indeed about the timbre of the voice, not the singer's gift/ability. It's not the first time my response to a particular quality ended up a misreading of technique or vocal ability. In my defense (!), "Another Hundred People" is one of the few Sondheim songs that inspires that level of expectation. Again, I trace it back to Pamela Myers, whose first take remains so thrilling it laid down a gold standard.

But to your bigger point, shifting the song to a male voice should allow some room for a new sound entirely. It's possible that a -- what, Adam Lambert? -- might be unduly showy, not serving the character. I'm probably not entirely sure that I've made the adjustment to the male disposition imposed on the character. It's certainly possible for the sensibilities in the original Marta to be transposed; but I probably bring gender bias to my reservations about these cascading observations erupting in a dude.

I will see the show next month and decide. For what it's worth: I saw the original B'way production, if late (Jane Russell iteration, the great Marian Hailey as Amy) and have seen ever subsequent one, plus the national company when Julie Wilson played Joanne. I don't come to any Company chat without experience -- and again, biases."

I absolutely agree with you that Pamela Myers set the gold standard that no one has ever reached. It is a superior track that I go back to time and again.

I think part of the problem lies in the fact that it was written with a female belter in mind. A majority of the melody sits in Pamela Myers’s money-note range, which makes it entirely thrilling, especially when the orchestra opens up in that back half of the song. It doesn’t quite work the same in Bobby Conte’s (or many other men’s) voice in that way.

Any standing ovations during the show for any of the performances following the first preview this week?

Going to see it around early-/mid-January. What are the chances that it appears on TDF/TKTS? (I would say low but wonder how everyone thinks). Still deciding if I should buy full-price tix or rush on the day or TDF/TKTS.

Well, you've got 20 pages of this thread alone to see what people have thought about this.

HeyMrMusic said: "I’m curious how others think about this. I thinkCompanyworks best now as a period piece. So much of the script and the sound of the songs are very much of its time. I’m currently in the Bobby/Bobbie age range and no one I know is obsessed with getting married or settling down, many of my friends are maybe just getting married and maybe just having their first child. I’m not sure if many of the pressures on settling down are as dire as they were when the piece was written. The biological clock is a real thing, of course, and an interesting layer for a female Bobbie to deal with. Otherwise, people in their mid-30s in NYC are just starting to couple up. (I also don’t think many of the gender swaps truly work here: swapping Peter and Susan greatly diminishes Susan’s character and singing role, the change in the Joanne scene lowers the stakes of the following song, etc.) This is not a dig at the cast, more of the concept as a whole in this production and the specific changes they made to the characters."

I have never seen a production of Company and unfortunately it’s unlikely I’ll get to see this one. But I immediately thought of two heterosexual friends (one female, one male) in their thirties who are indeed very concerned with being in a relationship & getting married. In fact, my male friend was already in one bad marriage and serially dates now in search of the “one.” My female friend is accomplished and a feminist who is getting married in June 2022 despite some warning signs regarding her fiancé that are probably only apparent to me. So the societal and personal pressure to get into a committed relationship is still there based on my anecdotal evidence. On the other hand, I’m 57 y.o., gay & single and after once thinking I needing a relationship to complete me (and picking some partners who I was incompatible with), I find I no longer have the interest or energy for dating.