Company Previews Thread — Page 8

hearthemsing22 said: "ljay889 said: "Is anyone else curious why they have Lenk wearing sperry looking tennis shoes instead of red heels like Craig? Also, she doesn’t wear hoop earrings like in the promo pictures."

My first thought is that it's for comfort given she's on stage basically the whole show? I can't explain the earrings though."

One of the criticisms in London was that the show didn’t feel New York enough. I imagine the shoe choice is to lend itself to Bobbie coming home from work. Many many many New York women wear sneakers on their commutes and change when they get to work. I think it’s actually a really smart nod to New Yorkness of it all.


She does wear heels in Not Getting Married, though. Which makes sense for she’s going to a wedding.

fosseboi008 said: "Claybourne, first, my goodness that bod."

Does the audience see much of it? I'm not a big Sondheim fan, but Mr. Elder gets my attention.

HugoP said: "

And, to answer one of the earlier posters, LuPone delivers LADIES completely seated... which takes away a lot of the power. She's also doing a lot of stuff with the song and not in a good way--- have heard her do it so much better (and straighter) in the past, and was hoping for that.

Would someone who saw the original production helpmeet out. I remember Elaine Stritch (and, later, Jane Russell, who was very good in the role...her glamour worked in her favor) sitting for the entire song. Am I remembering correctly. I know I have seen other productions where she sits also; were it not for this post, I would have said that she is always sitting...questioning my memory now.

Jarethan said: "A number of people have commented on the poor book,

I saw Company 3 times when it first opened in 1970. I have seen it at least 8-10 timestimes since then. There has never been a single time when I didn't cringe multiple times during the book scenes, sometimes uncomfortably because some of them were just so forced or, eventually, forced AND dated. IMO George Furth was a hack, and every production I have seen would have been much better if the book had been thrown out and redone from scratch. I have always wondered why Hal Prince didn't try to make it seem less episodic, e.g., now is the scene with the pot smokers, nowis the scene with the scared bride-to-be, etc.


As someone who has seen both the original Broadway production in 1970 and the London West End production in 2018, and the filmed concert production with Neil Patrick Harris, i have always thought the book by Furth is truly the weak link in this show...i have always loved the songs and have always thought there were so many lags in tempo when the book took over for the actors on stage...sad to hear this has not been addressed by this staging...

but...this is in previews after all and maybe Ms. Elliott will pick up the tempo as the actors get used to an audience

Updated On: 3/4/20 at 04:41 PM

SouthernCakes said: "I thought she did a good job of keeping the couples around and making it feel less episodic. "

I agree with this. Elliot’s direction is very cohesive.

OffOnBwayHi said: "Matt Rogers said: "Saw this and overall enjoyed it. The energy in the theatre was electric. Huge cheers and laughs for everything. I imagine this will die down a bit after all the hardcore fans make way for tourists and average theatregoers.

I loved the set. I didn’t realize this was the same director as Angels in America. She sure likes neon!
I should say that I was dead center and I may have liked this a lot less had I sat in any of the side sections. The design, with multiple boxed playing spaces, is definitely inconsiderate to the side sections. I’m betting there are many obstructed view seats for this.

Lenk’s acting is wonderful but believe the comments about her singing voice. Her range definitely seems limited, although it didn’t really bother me.

The audience reaction to Patti’s Ladies Who Lunch is something I have not ever witnessed in a theatre, and I’m not entirely convinced that it was fully earned. I mean, she was totally fine, but all the queens leaping to their feet and screeching for five minutes was a bit over the top. I haven’t even seen this reaction to And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going in Dreamgirls. Maybe Patti wants to play Effie next so she can cause actual heart attacks to occur.

Annnnyway, it is a colorful, fast moving production and there are worse ways to spend an evening, for sure. Just don’t sit in the far side sections.

"

lol Spot on and honest. Loved this post <3"

Well thank you!

KingOfTheMine said: "Saw this last night and thought it was verygood, if a bit uneven. I've seen a lot of talk about how Lenk's acting makes up for her weak singing, but I thought her performance was emotionally flat. Bobbie is sort of a bystander for most of the piece, but she has two moments to really knock it out of the park and give her perspective with Marry Me a Little and Being Alive. For me, Lenk just didn't portray the heights of emotion required by those songs and seemed unsure of herself. I've been trying to figure out what other people were picking up on that I missed. I was in the front mezz, and the Jacobs isn't that large. Still, maybe her acting choices are just too subtle to be appreciated from the mezz? Even so, I thought she improved in Act II, and I bet she gets better throughout the preview period.

This supporting cast is an embarrassment of riches. Everyone is doing what they do best. Some highlights: Jennifer Simard and Chris Sieber have some of the best comic timing in the business, and the audience ate up their scene. Matt Doyle delivered a solid Getting Married Today,even though the rapturous response is really because of Elliott's staging. The highlight wasgettingto hear Patti LuPone sing The Ladies Who Lunch live, which was everything I wanted it to be and worth the price of admission.

The physical production is good, even if Elliott is relying on her usual bag of tricks. I don't think it's good enough to distract from the flaws inherent in the piece. However, there's no denying that this is an entertaining production. I couldn't believe that the run time had been nearly three hours once it was over because I was so engaged. What the piece really needs to get to the next level is a stronger performance at the center to pull everything together. It will go from very good to great once Lenk has some time to flesh out her performance."

Great review. I agree with pretty much all of this except about Lenk's acting, which I found to be very good, but I was very close to the stage, so that might have something to do with it.

Third preview was stopped again tonight immediately after the opening number as the automated apartment sets wouldn’t move. Patti, Fitzgerald, And Hildreth came into the audience and told some charming jokes.

Tonight was the first night some changes were seen.
Peter and Susan’s terrace has a balcony/barrier now.
In their act two scene, Susan no longer appears out of Bobbie’s bed to begin the scene. That was a fun moment.
Also, their terrace in act two no longer has the oversized red purse and bottle of bourbon.
Joanne’s vodka stingers no longer are green. They are clear. The green looked WAY better.
And in the final moment when Bobbie blows out her final candle, they cut some of the pretty orchestration, and end it with the final drum fill. Unfortunately, it sounded better before.
These aren’t major changes but they didn’t really improve anything.

The audience and energy tonight was on par with the first preview and more lively than the second preview.

Lenk’s “Being Alive” is getting more emotional with each performance. The vocals are what they are, you will either enjoy them or dislike them. We knew this from the moment she was cast.

It was nice hearing a man in front of me tell his date “I knew it would be good but I didn’t know it would be THIS good!”


They don’t appear to be selling any merchandise with Rosalie on it. I didn’t see the cast recording And the script they’re selling is the 90s version, not the published London edition with the Rosalie cover. I predicted a while back they wouldn’t sell anything with Rosalie on it, which makes it very likely we will get a new cast recording.

Updated On: 3/4/20 at 11:14 PM

ljay, I really appreciate your continual thoughts on the production!

Updated On: 3/4/20 at 11:30 PM