I Need A "Company" Explanation

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.

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!)

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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