I Need A "Company" Explanation

[pianoman215]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:06pm

I may be having a bad day, but I need someone to explain the beginning and end of Company to me. In the beginning, it appears as if everyone is waiting for Robert to come to his surprise party. He arrives and he blows out the candles and the vignettes begin. At the end, after he makes his wish to be alive, it appears as if he stands up his friends, meaning he never blows out the candles and doesn't make a wish?

Explain please.

[bigred3535]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:13pm

I suppose it can be interpreted more than one way, but I just assumed that there were three years of birthday parties: opening Act I, opening Act II and closing Act II.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:23pm

The new version makes this a lot more confusing than it was before.
I don't think it's literal, but it does seem to be three different parties.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:29pm

I've always thought that the whole show takes place in his head as he is about to blow out the candles for his 35th birthday. He's remembering all the different interactions w/ his friends in the few seconds before blowing out the candles & making a wish for someone. It does seem in Doyle's version to be separate years though.
(Love your avatar btw. I saw that production and it was fantastic!)

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:35pm

For Hal Prince, it was one birthday and we see variations on what might have happened. But Prince also wrote that for all he knew, Sondheim for Furth might have thought it was three birthdays.

I've always thought of it as one myself.

[Jovie24]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:56pm

The way I saw it was one birthday party. He is about to go to this suprise party that know one knows he knows about, and then he has second thoughts. He imagines at first what it would be like if did walk though that door and had that party, but just after that he starts to imagine the last time he spent alone with each couple, individual and friends. He then at the end decided to not go in after all and the COMPANY decides to leave as he is comes to terms of who he is as a person. Kind of going through a mid-life crises.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 6:59pm

Hrmph, I left my Sondheim books at home...but I could have sworn it was Sondheim who said he saw it as one birthday? I can see the quote in front of me, and I could have sworn that was Sondheim...but of course nobodyhome, I'll bow to your amazing Sondheim knowledge

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 7:07pm

I'm with some of the others who've posted on this thread. I've always thought of the birthday parties as variations in his head on one upcoming party as well. I don't see anything between the answering machine messages and Robert's departure as really happening (though his friends' reactions to his not showing up for the party are imagined as well). The rest is a reverie as he contemplates his life at 35. I actually think that Doyle's staging almost does more to showcase that dreamlike, episodic aspect of the show.

As to the candles, he blows them out halfheartedly and confesses that he didn't wish for anything when he pictures himself surrounded by his friends in the first two "takes" of the birthday party. After the breakthrough that is "Being Alive" at the show's close, he is alone and without the push and pull of his acquaintances, and he finally makes a wish and blows out his birthday candles.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 7:07pm

It's possible that Sondheim has said that somewhere so you could have seen it, wrq. He's definitely talked about the whole show taking place in Robert's head.

Here's the quote from Prince (from his book, Contradictions), which mentions Furth but not Sondheim. I should have checked it first:

"Since Robert never arrives for the final celebration, there was some question whether they represented one birthday or a succession of them. I am certain they were one. I wouldn't be surprised if George Furth believes there were four. It doesn't matter."

This is kind of odd (apart from Prince counting it as four parties, I guess counting the one at the end of Act One as separate from the one at the start of Act Two) because Prince is so concerned about all the creators being on the same page and discussing everything in detail to be sure that they are.

Updated On: 1/8/07 at 07:07 PM

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 7:41pm

The MTI Shows site has a synopsis. I believe it's variations on one birthday.
MTI Shows

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 7:51pm

I always thought that Bobby was playing out different scenarios in his head before he arrived at the actual party.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 7:54pm

I took it as one Birthday and the other two parts were just taking the audience back to reality for a moment.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:05pm

I'll go with DancingThruLife04....

I'm thinking that the first two birthday scenes are figments of imagination in Bobby's head of what his birthdays have been, and the final scene is how he finally decides to handle this particular birthday.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:44pm

I always thought that the entire show up untill the last bday scene and being Alive is in Bobby's head .

[keen on kean]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:55pm

I love the fact that the play is capable of so many interpretations! And Doyle makes use of so many production possibilities that they all work.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 11:10pm

What does it represent to you, pianoman? How do you perceive it? Better to go with your interpretation than accept the received opinions of dunderheads.





Tootie 'The Most Horrible' Smith
St. Louis, MO

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 1/8/07 at 11:47pm

Ooh, okay nobody. Sondheim actually said something extremely similar in "Art Isn't Easy" by Joanne Gordon. That he thinks it's one, though he may have hinted that Furth thinks it's different ones But definitely something to the effect of he thinks it's one, he wouldn't be surprised if Furth or Prince saw it differently. Heh.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/9/07 at 12:07am

I'm under the impression that the first (Bobby listening to his voice messages) and final (his friends realizing that he's not coming) scenes bookend everything else; they occur in "real time," so to speak. They're actual events that take place on the day of his birthday. The rest is in Bobby's mind -- it's all stuff he's remembering and thinking about as he wrestles the baggage that comes with turning 35. Between the aforementioned moments, it's all in his head. The parties before the finale are all possible permutations -- perhaps imagined, but perhaps drawn on from past similar birthday celebrations, too. The finale is how it ends up going down; he makes the decision to do what we see in the finale after all of that contemplation.

Updated On: 1/9/07 at 12:07 AM

[kasim]

Posted: 1/9/07 at 9:17am

"The new version makes this a lot more confusing than it was before.
I don't think it's literal, but it does seem to be three different parties."

Nail on the head. If you arent familiar with the show its kinda confusing. was talking to my sis about it cause she's seen it before and became more clear after talking to her

[Steve2]

Posted: 1/9/07 at 12:47pm

Wow. This is interesting. I was not familiar with "Company" prior to seeing the current revival.
I just assumed that there were several birthday parties, the final one Bobby opting not to attend because of his experiences with these people over the past few years.

[pianoman215]

Posted: 1/9/07 at 7:17pm

After reading all of the thoughts on the subject, and thank you for responding, my favorite is that they are bookends to the same party. Robert hears the messages he friends leave and then everything after that, up until Being Alive, is in his head.

I have to be honest, I just loved the show. I wasn't prepared to, but found the show better suited to having the actors play the instruments than in Sweeney Todd, which I liked but didn't love.

At first, I found Raul's interpretation of Robert too laid back - his line reading just were so boring and uninteresting, but I think that is the character. I was amazed at his performance in the second act and was in tears during Being Alive.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/9/07 at 10:28pm

Of course, they are wearing the same clothes at each party.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 1/9/07 at 10:56pm

I just listened to the downstage center interview with John Doyle and he said that he interpreted them to be one birthday and so did Sondheim. But he has read that Furth thought that they could be four different birthdays.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/10/07 at 4:45pm

I have the complete script to COMPANY and it appears to me that George Furth intended there to be separate birthday parties in reality. According to the script: At the beginning of Scene One Robert blows out some of the candles and his friends help him blow out the rest, bemoaning the fact that Bobby probably won't get his wish. The same thing happens at the beginning of Act Two. At the end of Act Two, the neighbors are in Bobby's apartment wondering where he is. They all finally say, "Happy birthday, Robert!" They then blow out the candles and the lights go out in the apartment. Throughout this final scene, Robert has stood center stage, listening; now he smiles. Curtain.

I saw the original production in 1970 but I remember no details, alas. It is perfectly possible that a director and Sondheim could view the different parties as being in Bobby's head and that there was in reality only one party. I have not seen the current COMPANY but may be able to see it in May. It sounds worthwhile

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/10/07 at 5:02pm

George Furth initially wrote scenes that happened in a literal, temporal order.

Sondheim, Prince and Bennett deliberately played with the structure so that time would be presented in a non-linear, non-literal way.

That is why Prince said "It doesn't matter."

Time progresses in Follies in a similar, surreal and Fellini-esque manner.