I Just Saw a Community Production of COMPANY Tonight and...

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:01am

I'm a bit confused.

First off they totally copied Doyle's style from the revival. Everything was black, they tried to recreate the set. I was shocked they didn't start playing their own instruments!

The script REALLY confused me. The script licensed is the Roundabout updated version. BUT I almost **** myself when I read the program and they had TICK TOCK listed. I know it's pretty hard to find TICK TOCK in a production now-a-days. The script seemed like it was the original to me. The answering machine part in the beginning wasn't there, and the original "fag" lyric was in YCDAPC. Then was I thought it was the original, they had MARRY ME A LITTLE. Which wasn't in the original script. I doubt the director mixed scripts together. They did license it through MTI also. Anybody know if MTI also licenses the original script, because I think I saw it tonight.

I was thrilled to finally see TICK TOCK. But the poor Kathy couldn't do it justice. Her high kicks were amazing, but the rest wasn't all there. But who can do it like McKechnie. I guess I get now why productions don't want to attempt that number. The audience also seemed really confused with the number.

The performances were pretty good. The bobby looked the part. The Joanne was too nice and sang too sweetly, though she looked great in the role. I guess after seeing the Broadway revival, I expected too much from a community production.

Here's some pictures from the show
http://www.nenaptp.addr.com/company.htm#PHOTOS

If anybody from the cast reads this, you were all REALLY talented. I just had problems with the direction, and felt it copied too much from the Doyle revival.

Can anybody help me with my questions about the script? Does MTI license the original?
Updated On: 3/26/07 at 12:01 AM

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:04am

Sounds really interesting! I like seeing somebody know a lot about the different productions and know what they are talking about, leading themselves through an analysis of "What the hell version is this?" A fun little trail to read through haha

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:24am

Well it is community theater, so the minimal style goes well with the budget. So maybe that's one reason.

Question: When did they add "Marry Me A Little" into Company? It's my favorite song from the show, but I just figured they didn't put it on the OBC because sometimes they just leave songs out.

Also why did they take out "fag." It seems like if Sondheim meant to put it in there, and he wasn't offended by it, why change it?

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:27am

Marry Me A Little was in the '95 revival, but I don't know if it was first inserted in that production or in every subsequent production after the OBC.

As for the "fag" omission, that is news to me. Every recording I've known has it in there.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:27am

MARRY ME A LITTLE was one of many songs written for the BEING ALIVE spot in the show.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:28am

Ooh. I like their lighting.

Also why did they take out "fag." It seems like if Sondheim meant to put it in there, and he wasn't offended by it, why change it?

I think it's just a linguistic update, because that particular usage of the term was pretty colloquial and exclusive to the time period. We use it differently now. So now there's "if he happened to be gay," instead. I don't think it's an offense issue.

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 12:28 AM

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:30am

OH, you are right. "If he happened to be gay" right? Wow, I missed that one.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:31am

One of the first people to sing MARRY ME A LITTLE was Ellen Greene in her club act at Brothers and Sisters, a hole in the wall club on 46th St. back in the day.

Another song considered for that spot was HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

There is a compilation recording where I think Larry Kert sings sll three songs.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:34am

Happily Ever After is such a fascinating song.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:34am

"we use it differently now"???

like fag hag?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:36am

That's not really what I had in mind, but I guess you could say that. The thing about the word as it's used today is that even if it's not said with a derogatory intention, the way we react to it is pretty different because we're used to it being pretty malicious. It's used to offend much more often than not, no?

And if that was a subtle "like you?!" jab (a possibility I didn't pick up right away), the need to attack me in every. single. thread. about Company is so exhausted. I repeatedly point out that it's much more productive to just set aside the already hashed-out differences since we clearly both like the piece, and you repeatedly tell me that yes, that's fair. And then in every new thread you want to monopolize you turn around and pull the same thing. How quickly we forget.

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 12:36 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:43am

Well YOU COULD DRIVE A PERSON CRAZY is an angry rant so they are certainly being malicious.

Didn't Gertrude say:
"A Fag is A Fag is A Fag"?

It means the same thing today it did then.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:47am

Right, right. I'm not talking about what the girls are saying to Bobby, I'm saying in terms of what it means to audiences. It's just not a PC term, if it even ever was. Its use as a term of... inclusion within a community of sorts is overshadowed by its use as a term of hatred and serious malintent. The word's meaning hasn't changed, that's not what I'm saying. But its connotation HAS. People don't like to hear it, because it's offensive in its most common application.

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 12:47 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:51am

I think Sondheim discusses this somewhere.
Just the fact that he used the word back then was a revelation.
The girls are talking amongst themselves so they feel free to use the word, and Bennett's originak staging had them doing a bend at the wrist thing, so again the conotation is the same.

[helloagain]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:58am

"Fag" Is still in The London Donmar recording was it changed for roundabout?

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 1:00am

Marry Me a Little was not in the original, not on the album or in the show (which I saw because I'm 102.)

I saw a production of COMPANY at the Signature Theatre in 1994. Marry Me a Little was not in that production, but TICK TOCK was. I don't remember whether "fag" or "gay" was used.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 1:43am

"Fag" Is still in The London Donmar recording was it changed for roundabout?

The Roundabout recording has that line changed to "If he actually was gay."

The production I saw in Seattle last year used the original book, except the "fag" line was also changed. "Marry Me a Little" was not included, and "Tick Tock" was, although they did not include the dance number. (It had the sex scene, with the voiceovers and the "I love you"s, but no dancing.)

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 9:59am

The book they're using in the current revival is the same one that was used in '95, no? (Which I think is the published version with the purple cover?)

CPD, you're not understanding what I'm saying because you're using "connotation" and "meaning" in the same way. No, the girls are not being nice to Bobby, they're angry with him. And yes, the term did push the envelope even in the 70s. But there's a difference between angry and like, hatefully un-PC, as well as between the latter and language that is just shocking. If you don't like "connotation," then try "implication." Its implication is a lot more than just "if you happened to be gay." This isn't a perfect analagoy because the gap of acceptibility can probably be considered somewhat wider, but it's kind of akin to use of the n-word. Means the same thing, right? But absolutely un-PC. Why does English have several words that mean the same thing? There are different degrees within meaning. That's why I said the change was more likely an update to the vernacular than it was the issue that Rentboy suggested, because people now hear it and think insult that stretches beyond what the girls are intended to get across about Bobby. That term as long as I have known it has stood for passing judgment on its meaning as a bad thing in the way of being unacceptable, not just inconvenient to a straight woman who likes a guy -- and I grew up in the 90s. I don't know how else to explain it. You'll probably continue to say there's no difference anyway.

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 09:59 AM

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 3:01pm

I totally get what you're saying, Emcee, and I think that is probably the reason for the change. When I heard the line in the original recording it caught me off-guard because it was so... uncouth? (I'm not sure the word I am looking for.) It's not meant as an insult, but current audiences will take it that way.

(I thought at first you were replying to me, heh. Guess I'd be CTD instead of CPD. )

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 3:09pm

Heh, you would. Sorry! Uncouth is a good word for it, I think.

[Kringas]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:22pm

I don't even know why CPD would care. There's no nudity in the song.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 11:27pm

But there was partial nudity in the original and the Roundabout revival.

I think I understand your "meaning" luv the,
My point is that Knowing that a Gay Man wrote the lyric I understand the use of it in the song and as a gay Man myself i am not at all offended by it.
In PARADE the N word is used by whites because that is what they would have said at the time, and I have always wondered if people were offended by that.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 11:30pm

I forgot to mention;


during WHAT WOULD WE DO? The cast came out with pom-poms and banners reading BOBBY! It was a cheese fest.

And during POOR BABY Bobby kept groping and squeezing April's boobs, it just looked wrong with this concept. I like how Doyle downplayed the sex a bit. Now if there was a bed like the original, I would want to see it all out. But when you're doing a minimalist version, you don't need all that.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 2:05am

Right, CPD, and I, as neither gay nor male, get and respect that. But you have to consider audiences as a whole, yeah?

Something like Parade would be an interesting debate because it's period, and gets away with stuff that's not PC in today's terms on that claim. South Pacific does it, too.

lol, ljay, that sounds really funny, even if cheesy.

Updated On: 3/25/07 at 02:05 AM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 3/25/07 at 2:25am

It looks more like a college show, than a Community one, but one thing I know about Community Theatre is they change things, do the way it was done in the revival, and stuff like that all the time. So there is probably no script logic to what you saw, just a director who wanted to put all that stuff in it.

BTW, luvtheEmcee are you really not gay?????? I've "known" you for a while on this board and reading your post and stuff about Raul and Adam Pascal, I thought you were not only gay and "gay and proud". Don't take it the wrong way because there is nothing wrong with being gay and I'm sure you know that, but that is what I always thought.