London COMPANY Starring PATTI LuPONE!- Page 2

[FrontRowCenter2]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 6:19am

Guess I'm going to London!

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 12:12pm

Wait, does this mean that Joanne will be bisexual or fluid in this production? She propositions Robert in the penultimate scene essentially. I know Sondheim approved of this gender-swapped COMPANY, but I am still not completely convinced it will work seamlessly.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 12:35pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Wait, does this mean that Joanne will be bisexual or fluid in this production? She propositions Robert in the penultimate scene essentially. I know Sondheim approved of this gender-swapped COMPANY, but I am still not completely convinced it will work seamlessly."

Apparently she offers up her husband instead. Come on, it'll be 2018 and even Gentleman's Guide was ballsy enough to just go for a throuple.

"The gender swap will necessitate some changes in the script. In one scene, for instance, Joanne and Bobby normally flirt. ‘Now, Joanne will ask Bobbi when she’s going to make it with my husband,’ LuPone told me."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4908060/Patti-LuPone-returning-UK-away-s-storm.html#ixzz4tQM2QBwZ

[Blue_Lotus]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 1:11pm

I am super excited for this!! 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 1:29pm

I'm not loving this.  I would have no problem with Bobby being played by a woman and her just being a lesbian, but I have a problem with them changing the text in order to fit their "vision."  Remember how Sondheim just recently talked about how some directors will completely disrespect his shows in order to fit what they want.  I can't help, but feel that he was talking about this production.......  I'll refrain from commenting on it too much, since none of us have seen it yet and maybe it'll be great, but I have some major issues with this.  I have to ask though, why not gender bend the whole cast?  Wouldn't that work better?

[Public User]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 1:46pm

Books are changed all the time with older musicals that have become terribly dated, as this one surely is.

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 1:51pm

givesmevoice said: "Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Wait, does this mean that Joanne will be bisexual or fluid in this production? She propositions Robert in the penultimate scene essentially. I know Sondheim approved of this gender-swapped COMPANY, but I am still not completely convinced it will work seamlessly."

Apparently she offers up her husband instead. Come on, it'll be 2018 and even Gentleman's Guide was ballsy enough to just go for a throuple.

"The gender swap will necessitate some changes in the script. In one scene, for instance, Joanne and Bobby normally flirt. ‘Now, Joanne will ask Bobbi when she’s going to make it with my husband,’ LuPone told me."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4908060/Patti-LuPone-returning-UK-away-s-storm.html#ixzz4tQM2QBwZ"

 

Wow, yeah. A proposed threesome would’ve made much more sense. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 2:07pm

Public User said: "Books are changed all the time with older musicals that have become terribly dated, as this one surely is."

IDK, I'm not so sure that I would call this show "dated."  It's certainly not anymore dated than a show like South Pacific or Hair.  They were modern at the time that they first premiered, but now they've kind of just become period pieces.  I've always found the obsession to make Company "relevant" a bit odd to me.  I mean, have you ever been to the upper east side?  The yuppies aren't extinct yet.

 

[raddersons]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 2:09pm

GeorgeandDot said: "I have to ask though, why not gender bend the whole cast? Wouldn't that work better?"

That's how I feel. It takes place in New York, and it'll be 2018... Really I think what this should be able to show is that sexual fluidity is just as complicated as being fixed in who you find attractive, if not more. 

[Gizmo6]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 2:19pm

raddersons said: "GeorgeandDot said: "Ihave to ask though, why not gender bend the whole cast? Wouldn't that work better?"

That's how I feel. It takes place in New York, and it'll be 2018... Really I think what this should be able to show is that sexual fluidity is just as complicated as being fixed in who you find attractive, if not more."

I find Sondheim allowing this and completely rubbishing a gay Bobby odd but on form for Sondheim. 

After some technical difficulties I got a ticket, I get a feeling they were holding back tickets because the first 10 rows were gone by 10.30am. 

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 2:24pm

I'm also trying not to pass too much judgment, because no one has seen it yet and it's a year away. Maybe they'll get into rehearsals and realize that they can go a different way that makes it feel more real and inclusive. Maybe it's actually going to work the way it is now.

I get to make UK trips for work sometimes, and if I'm still here next year, I'm definitely going to plan a trip around seeing this. (And if I'm not here, London would be nice for a vacation anyway!)

[greensgreens]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 4:04pm

"She offers up her husband"???

This sounds like one of the worst ideas ever.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 5:01pm

I'm so glad there are finally dates and a location for this; that information is, to me, totally secondary to the casting announcement; every time it was pushed back, or the timeline was vague, I feared that it was never going to happen. 

I am intrigued and curious and I have so many questions that I can't wait to have answered. But my questions aren't skepticism; I'm on board with the idea and I think it's going to challenge a lot of long-held perceptions about the show. I love this show so deeply, and I'm so excited for this. 

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 5:09pm

After War Horse, Curious Incident, and Angels in America, I think Marianne Elliott is a genius. But this proposed production sounds like a trainwreck to me. (Not because of Patti.)

As if the gender-swapping wasn't enough to complicate matters, they are also making it "contemporary".  How do you do that without throwing out 70% of the book and a good portion of the lyrics?  Answering services, Sazerac slings, TIME magazine, the "scandalous" pot smoking (which was lame 40 years ago), etc., etc.

The problem isn't just with out-of-date references. It works the other way, too. How do you do a "contemporary" Company without including texting, social media, dating apps, etc.  Do Bobbi and her married friends not own cellphones?  (Well, maybe not Joanne... )

If they have to do that much rewriting/retooling, then it isn't Company any longer.  I will be interested to hear how they tackle all these issues. But I'm going to pass on going to London to see it first hand. 

[raddersons]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 5:19pm

^^The 2006 revival seemed to get rid of all of the 70s references, and made it classy and timeless. It also made some changes, but to say it's a different show? Nah.

[darquegk]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 5:21pm

The Pittsburgh Public production with Jim Stanek was set in the present, and the opening number's barrage of "Bobby, Bobby" prompts began as in person and moved to being representative of his cell phone getting blown up after Bobby's first verse. They played the pot scene not so much as scandalous as "parents trying to get away with something."

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 5:31pm

The 2006 revival did not get rid of the 70s references. The timelessness was all in the aesthetic; and you felt it because it was a production that didn't beat you over the head with the fact that it's the 70s. Doyle experimented with cell phones in Cincinnati, but ultimately decided to remove them because they weren't necessary and were potentially distracting. 

Updated On: 9/22/17 at 05:31 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 5:34pm

I was feeling rather nonplussed towards this production but I'm a whole lot more interested now.

Updated On: 9/22/17 at 05:34 PM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 8:13pm

Perhaps they should title it: COMPANY: THE NEXT GENERATION

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/22/17 at 8:28pm

PepperedShepherd said: "...
If they have to do that much rewriting/retooling, then it isn't Company any longer. I will be interested to hear how they tackle all these issues. But I'm going to pass on going to London to see it first hand."

Indeed. Why doesn't that ringing telephone in the opening just go to voice mail?!

Speaking more to the theme of the show, in our culture when we see single man on the brink of middle age, we ask, "What's wrong with him? Why can't he grow up and settle down?"

But when we see a single woman on the brink of middle age, we ask "What's wrong with her? Why won't any man have her?"

Very different show. Nearly opposite subtext.

***

On the other hand, LuPone is a great choice. She's the only one who seems to have noticed that "Ladies Who Lunch" is written to a Latin rhythm.

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 9/23/17 at 12:11am

SeanMartin said: "Perhaps they should title it: COMPANY: THE NEXT GENERATION"

Marta (Marty?) sings:

And they meet through Tinder and the Facebook friends 
Who they never know.
Will you pick me up, or do I Uber there,
Or shall we let it go?
Did you get my voicemail 'cause I looked in vain?
Can we check on Google Tuesday if it's gonna rain?
Look, I'll text you in the morning or my Snapchat will explain.
And another thousand Tweeters just got off of the train...
 


 

 

 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/26/17 at 10:38am

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Wait, does this mean that Joanne will be bisexual or fluid in this production? She propositions Robert in the penultimate scene essentially. I know Sondheim approved of this gender-swapped COMPANY, but I am still not completely convinced it will work seamlessly."

Maybe not   The brilliant way Patti played the scene with NPH didn't suggest to me a genuine sexual proposition.  Rather a manipulative way of shaking Bobby up so that he could take a good close look at his vulnerability and need for intimate albeit imperfect company.  To expose the casual sexual conquest she is proposing as not being what he wants at all in life, now that he's "not a kid anymore" - and as something jarringly incompatible with the genuine emotional intimacy he has with Joanne.   To get him to focus on what he really needs and wants.  That was "the big favor" she had done for him.  

Of course that might not be the way she plays Joanne in this production.  But who knows?  

 

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 9/26/17 at 10:45am

Patti did say on Sunday night that the airline attendants would be men and that one of the couples would be a gay couple.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/26/17 at 10:52am

Are they cutting Someone is Waiting or has Sondheim completely rewritten it.  I've been going through the lyrics trying to see if one could get away with interpreting it as if Bobbi wished SHE were a Jenny-ish Joanne, but that may stretch it a little too much.  

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 9/26/17 at 10:53am

She also mentioned that her husband is going to be very much younger than her which could explain the "offering up her husband" part.  Maybe it's to get pregnant?