Company and teenagers

Watch Legally Blonde instead.

I don't know how you'd market it to someone who isn't a little Broadway obsessed. I'm 17, and I've got it on my calendar. Nobody had to market it to me.

I agree with the poster who said that if they're performing arts students, you probably won't have to do too much pushing to get them interested in a classic.

But, if they are the types who think Wicked is the only musical out there, perhaps explain to them that they'll be seeing one of the shows that paved the way for everything they see and love now. There is so much appealing about Company that you don't have to be like, a 75 year old woman to get excited about.

One of the things that always amazed me about the revival was how much it (rather unexpectedly, I think) connected with younger people. It's very easy to look at a show that's about a guy having an identity crisis on his 35th birthday and assume that young people aren't going to "get" it. I've heard a lot of people say that in order to understand Company, you need to be a certain age and have experienced certain things in your life, and yet the revival garnered quite a following from people in the late teens-early/mid 20's age group. And while it may have been unexpected, it was very real. I'm 21, and that revival was the love of my life. I was 19 the first time i saw it. I've never connected more with anything I've seen on stage. And maybe I understand it differently than I would if I were older, but I understand it on my own terms. Company is not just about middle age and marriage. Company is about figuring out who the hell you are, and about longing for connection in this world of proverbial ice cubes. Raúl has said a number of times that in many ways, it's about growing up; and what teenager doesn't understand that? So if you're worried that your teenaged students are going to feel like it's this distanced thing to them, I don't think that's an issue at all.

I mean, you saw it didn't you? And judging by your avatar, you probably loved it. Use that if you feel the need to "sell" it to your students. Enthusiasm can go a long way. Don't think of it as having to get them interested only by way of how enormous Sondheim's contributions to the theater are, or that Company broke the mold. Certainly preface it with that, because it's important, but in the end, we all want to feel. And if these are kids who like Spring Awakening, one would hope it's because they relate to it. They can relate to this, too. "Sell" it to them in a way that will appeal to that. In other words, if you're concerned that they'll be resistant to watching, don't think you have to limit yourself to the academic appeals; don't just tell them how important it is historically, or how intellectual Sondheim is. That might lead them to expect it to be dry or boring. Get them to expect they're going to like it. Maybe some of them won't, but at the very least, they won't go in rolling their eyes.

And if all else fails, there's always the Sex & The City comparison.

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Updated On: 2/18/08 at 10:40 AM

First off, thanks to everybody who replied. LuvtheEmcee, I did see this show and not living in NYC, I came back to NYC 3x just to watch this show. I'll never forget the last show, sitting in the Barrymore and bawling through 'Being Alive'. You're right, you don't have to be 35 to get this show and I have never been more touched by a show in my life.

As for the fact that the kids should know the classics, I agree, but they were never taught that Broadway has been around long before Elphaba 'Defied Gravity'. Very few of them have ever heard 'West Side Story', and many think that the 'Chicago' on Broadway only came about because of the movie. I hope that does provide a reference point. Again, thank you to everybody who responded and I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes~

Updated On: 2/18/08 at 10:50 AM

I agree, but they were never taught that Broadway has been around long be Elphaba 'Defied Gravity'.

That's really odd.

Ok, statement corrected.

"I agree, but they were never taught that Broadway has been around long before Elphaba 'Defied Gravity'."

And these kids are performing arts students? What? Are you kidding me?

If they don't care enough about their craft to want to learn about other musicals, then they won't have a career in the theatre.

And Raul is such a stud.

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Tell them how the show won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, and the original won the Tony for Best Musical. People eat that ish up. You can also tell them a little about Stephen Sondheim.

There hasn't been that many shows that have strayed from the traditional musical theater structure and worked...Company is one of them. Kids love to throw away the rules, that might be an interesting angle