Is the Company 2011 Philharmonic DVD still happening? — Page 3

"It's an oddity of a show called "Company" that the affable "Bobby" of the lyrics doesn't bear much resemblance to the cool, more distant "Robert" of the book"

It's not an oddity. It's a weakness.

Thanks, darquegk, for the added perspective. I was 17 when I saw the OBC and while I didn't find Kert decrepit, I did think of him as on the cusp of middle age, as you put it. My parents were only 39 that year, to take but one comparison that was meaningful to me at the time.

And as you also point out, nowadays, we think nothing of someone reaching 35 or even 40 without settling down.

The Doyle version is the one major incarnation I didn't see, so thank you for your account of it.

***

ETA I disagree about the pot. I found it entirely believable in the original. The 30-somethings in the play are the generation that came of age in the 1950s. That a middle-class married couple of their generation had never tried pot made perfect sense and jived with the claims, at least, of my parents and their friends. (Robert, of course, HAS tried it before and that makes sense because he dates younger, more bohemian types like Marta.)

By comparison, there were still plenty of liberal arts colleges in the 1950s that had strict dress codes and required weekly attendance at chapel. And those weren't just the religious schools!

I think that scene has to go if the play is set in the present day. I find it much harder to believe that a couple of people who were 17 in 1995 or even 1990 has never tried pot. And even if they haven't, they'd have a much different attitude about it.

Best to keep the play in its period. I agree with Eric on that.

But I've let my own thoughts wander from your point, darquegk. Yes, it might suit contemporary frames of reference to make Bobby 40, even if the period of the show stays the same.

Updated On: 8/12/12 at 09:11 PM

^

It's a defect.

And Dean Jones was better than all of them.

P.S.

I think you mean bridge the divide..

Updated On: 8/13/12 at 12:24 AM

I think you mean bridge the divide.

Yes, I did. Thank you.

Fortunately I got "asshole" right.

Gaveston, you and I are the same age, both of us saw the original production of "Company" at age 17.

Your comments about the generation portrayed in the play, also known as the "Silent Generation", those born between 1926 and 1946, make perfect sense. They were the earliest married and had the most children, as opposed to us "Baby Boomers" who married later and had the fewest children.

The pressure to conform was the primary theme of that generation, in keeping with the theme of "Company". They were overshadowed by the heroic "GI Generation" and were too old to enjoy much of the sexual freedom evidenced by the Boomers.

While I found your comments intelligent and enlightening, I found your referring to a board member as an asshole for expressing his opinion, childish and inappropriate.

Updated On: 8/13/12 at 12:24 PM

Interesting you say that, as one of the changes made to the script in the 90s was decreasing the alcohol (specifically Joanne drinks less--and is less nasty in general, maybe because of it :P--and the story about one of the husband's drunken arrest decreases the amount of bottles of wine he claims he had --I think from 6 or 7 or some insanely high number to three).

I actually can't remember if the Harris version reverted to the original script in those instances or not. I do find it interesting that fans go on and on about all the changes in the script to Follies, but many don't seem to realize just how much of Company was re-written for the revised version.

And he just admitted that! Gah! (And yes, "Gah' is my way of expressing myself properly).

Confidential to Johnpressman: I can't send you a PM, but I want to thank you for the slap on the hand. I needed it.

In the long run, I am much happier responding to everyone in a civil fashion.

Updated On: 8/13/12 at 10:25 PM

Don Draper is the closest we'll get to a traditional, 1971 Bobby ever again. I'm glad you brought that up. Neil Patrick Harris is the epitome of the new Bobby, but Don Draper's journey IS Robert.

Yes. I have to say, I do like using Marry Me a Little as an act I closer, and I overall like the "gay scene" (partly just because it addresses an issue that so many people have brought up), but otherwise, mean Joanne and all, I'd just use the original script. The Harris production did include a lot more of the original script, but until the DVD I won't be able to go over how much of it was used.

I agree about "Marry Me a Little" and I thought Joanne was plenty and gratuitously mean in the Philharmonic concert, but it sounds like she was even worse in the original.

I'll admit, I'm not quite such a fan of the mean Joanne. I think it ties into both the alcohol culture and the time period, but today, someone like the original Joanne is a socially aberrant person (like that blog about the changes points out). NO ONE can act like that these days. The people who come closest are the ones for whom the nastiness is mostly show, and presented in a humorous sense. Look at every character Jane Lynch has ever played. Coach Sue Sylvester is a perfect example: a woman who is selfish, petty and immature (like Joanne often appears), but at the same time is witty, clever and tongue-in-cheek about it. Her threats and barbs have the faintest glimmer of irony, or, wait for it, heart, behind them.

Joanne, on the other hand, is an aggressive, drunken monster who threatens violence and shouts down everyone who vaguely annoys with her. No real wit to it, no sense of irony. Just genuine antisocial personality disorder. Is it more "real?" Maybe. Is it true to 1971? Possibly. But it simply begs the question- maybe a question that wasn't asked in that era- why is this woman Bobby's most intimate friendship? She's a bitch! And not a bitch in the post-feminist, semi-ironic sense of a woman who speaks her mind and has an aggressive and assertive attitude. No, Old Joanne is a bitch in the bitchiest bitch sense. For better or for worse, she's become a snarky society lady (and apparently, like Bobby, grown somewhat younger over the years).