Company Reviews (and beyond) — Page 3

All in all the worst set of reviews for a Broadway musical leading lady since........Jill Haworth in "Cabaret"? (Just as others here like Lenk, I still maintain that Jill did not deserve what she got.) Lenk either got singled out or became a buried lede.

Updated On: 12/10/21 at 10:49 PM

“Even more flummoxing is the scene in which, as originally written, Joanne, tired of Bobby’s passivity, and perhaps her own, suggests they have an affair. Short of turning Joanne into a lesbian, which might have been more interesting, Elliott has little choice but to turn her into a pimp, goading Bobbie to “make it” with her husband, Larry. ”


Say what you will about Green but someone had to say it….

How have the houses been?

Lenk is a wonderful actress, she's just wrong from this. It's 2021. Find me an actress who can SING the part and act it. If it were a play, I'd say sure, she is an interesting choice, but I'd love to see an understudy go on and see how it really works with a singer. Kind of shocked she got passed through so many rounds and that Elliot didn't see it was an issue. The fact that most of her big solo numbers are on an empty stage is also interesting. You'd think Elliot might have realized and added in some set pieces or some clever stage craft to make up for it, but no. Interesting.

Isn't the empty stage for Bobbie's solo numbers a clear design choice to contrast her state of mind with all of the other Alice in Wonderland machinations?

Theatermania is very Positive

“Of course, it's Lenk's show, and given her stature, probably even more LuPone's. They get the two songs the audience wants to hear — "Ladies Who Lunch" and "Being Alive" — and they more than deliver. LuPone, in particular, is giving one of her best overall performances in many years, finding devastating nuances in Joanne that I don't even think she knew existed when she did the role previously. Her "Ladies" earns deafening applause just for existing (I clapped like a trained seal and I'd do it again), but the layers she reveals prove why she's a legend.

Lenk's vocals admittedly leave something to be desired — she doesn't have the belt you want — but the specificity of her choices is what makes her Bobbie special. She expertly charts the evolution of a woman who is happier to go down a rabbit hole than confront reality, choices exemplified in Bunny Christie's imaginative and dangerous maze of a set and Liam Steele's wonderful dream ballet of body doubles where Bobbie imagines her life as a mother. "Being Alive" becomes less about wanting to get married and more about confronting your own mortality. And it's stunning.”

https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/reviews/review-a-rousing-company-shows-that-sondheim_93106.html

Jesse Green has a problem with women directors and playwrights. His review stinks of male chauvinism.

For those decrying Green's "chauvinism" and wanting a woman's take, Helen Shaw at Vulture is positive on Sondheim and the source material, less so on Lenk and Elliott's directing choices.

"But trapped between the show and Elliott’s decisions — many of which rob the production of its sensuality and menace — [Lenk] seems to lose contact with the material. Something unkind has happened, too, in the musical transpositions. “Being Alive,” for instance, asks its singer to put full power behind the tricky vowel sound in “alive.” Lenk has trouble with it, hitting her highest emotional peak while singing her least comfortable musical note. It’s weirdly sour, in the one moment that Sondheim wanted the sound to be sweet."

https://www.vulture.com/2021/12/theater-review-company-katrina-lenk-patti-lupone-nyc.html


Let the name calling commence!

Updated On: 12/10/21 at 03:17 AM

BJR said: "Georgeanddot2 said: "7thbighero said: "“Even more flummoxing is the scene in which, as originally written, Joanne, tired of Bobby’s passivity, and perhaps her own, suggests they have an affair. Short of turning Joanne into a lesbian, which might have been more interesting, Elliott has little choice but to turn her into a pimp, goading Bobbie to “make it” with her husband, Larry. ”

Say what you will about Green but someone had to say it…."

Yeah except that's not really what happens."

Exactly. I thought the scene made more scene in this version than it ever has."

Yes, while it's true that Bobbie proposing to Jamie doesn't work, you really feel that Joanne is projecting her deepest insecurities here

I can’t decide if Green hated this because he probably played Bobbie in some regional production and is too attached to the original form, or if it has something to do with his apprenticeship with Hal Prince? From an old interview he did upon being hired by the NYT:

“I’m highly critical of my own writing. Ben Brantley’s and David Rooney’s writing, just to pick two of them, is crystal clear. I wish I were that clear. Instead I’m big and emotional. But I’m happy with that tradeoff.”

Clearly.

I agree with CurtainPullDowner. Certainly Helen Shaw's thoughtful review in many ways backs up the Green take, though with a different prism. Mainly, I find it intriguing that after so many discussions over the last two years about the ways the updating and gender switching don't work for everyone, there's a gasp that the NY Times dare have an issue with it. Company's issues date to its original book, which was a sitcom in 1970 (yes, I recognized that at age 19 when I saw it on B'way). Subsequent revivals have always put Furth's work in the spotlight, even if Mr. Sondheim defended him. It shouldn't be a big shock that reversing the genders would only add another level of scrutiny to the Furth scenes. Go back and read reviews of other revivals, including Doyle's "timeless" one. The show has gnarly issues in its DNA, and they cannot be ignored simply because the score is a beloved masterwork. Agree or disagree with Green, he's hardly the first person to raise these issues. (And I find his take on Bobbi's marriage proposal in the Andy scene consistent with friends' responses, who find it bizarre and insulting.) And needless to say, he is hardly the only critic to have trouble with the casting of the leading role, which unavoidably puts another magnifying glass on the revisal.

Updated On: 12/10/21 at 08:27 AM

I agree Green’s review reads as if he’s too attached to the original production though I have to wonder if he actually saw it. I also have to wonder if he truly believes a revival of the original Company would actually run today. Whatever the case, I don’t have that attachment. I thought the production was phenomenal. Patti is of course a knock out and the supporting cast mines the book scenes for every laugh and bit of nuance they can find. The gender swap worked very well for me and I didn’t find Lenk cold as others have noted. I found her very charming. I didn’t have an issue with her singing either. My only complaint has nothing to do with her or indeed Rosalie as heard on the album. The problem for me is simply the keys chosen for Bobbie. I would have preferred keys that allowed the women to belt the higher notes instead of going up into head voice which I believe is what both actresses did. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.