Posted: 10/7/17 at 9:47pm
I so would prefer Joanne to come on to the female Bobbi.... I mean, how awesome would that be??
*sigh*
Posted: 10/9/17 at 10:25am
I think the entire production will be just a grand exercise. No doubt some things will be re-written, other things will stay the same (and work or not) but I don't think this is going to become the basis of a new version we see often performed.
Not to throw any skepticism into the mix, but Marianne Elliott (whose dramatic work I love) is relatively inexperienced with musicals. She directed The Light Princess but it wasn't near the level of her greatest dramatic achievements.
Posted: 10/9/17 at 10:27am
Also Elliott has said this about the production:
Elliot commented that Stephen Sondheim "didn’t like the idea at first, but he agreed to let me workshop it in London. We filmed part of it and sent it to him in New York, and he said he loved it. He has agreed to the odd lyric change, but essentially I’m hoping to tweak it as little as possible. Reviving Company 47 years on, I think it actually makes more sense for Bobby to be a woman."
Posted: 10/9/17 at 10:48am
Will hold out on actual judgement for when this starts as well as seeing how it grows as a show, but although I support gender-swapping male main characters because it always opens up fun new female roles that are hardly ever written, god when things are changed around them to make sure it remains a straight-friendly story it makes my skin crawl. So much effort just to keep media straight is... Exhausting.
Posted: 4/11/18 at 10:18am
Looks like they had some sort of launch for the production while Patti was in London. Here's a clip of Rosalie Craig singing "Being Alive" - she sounds incredible.
Being Alive
Posted: 4/11/18 at 10:46am
Thank you for sharing!!! I'm thinking of a London trip in the fall and looking forward to seeing this production! :)
Posted: 4/11/18 at 10:53am
michaelhale said: "Will hold out on actual judgement for when this starts as well as seeing how it grows as a show, but although I support gender-swapping malemain characters because it always opens up fun new female roles that are hardly ever written, god when things are changed around them to make sure it remains a straight-friendly story it makes my skin crawl. So much effort just to keep media straight is... Exhausting."
Hardly ever written? Females have by far the best roles in musical theatre. This is one of the few male roles that are actually interesting. (maybe you were making the more general claim that good roles are hard to come by for everybody - in which case I concede you have a point).
Updated On: 4/11/18 at 10:53 AM
Posted: 4/11/18 at 8:28pm
I've got my ticket. Had my vacation planned anyway and this is a nice bonus
Posted: 4/12/18 at 9:49am
Can someone explain to me why a female version of Company is ok with Sondheim, but he vehemently opposes a gay male version? I really don't understand this.
Posted: 4/12/18 at 12:42pm
Making Bobby bisexual would be an easy swap. Making Bobby a heterosexual woman requires complete rewrites of "Have I Got a Girl for You," "Someone Is Waiting," and "Poor Baby."
Posted: 4/12/18 at 12:56pm
Posted: 4/12/18 at 1:49pm
He supports a gay VERSION of the piece, but not a gay READING of the piece; to him, reading Bobby as closeted takes away the show's commentary on the generation gap, middle age and "couples culture," and simply turns it into the story of a man with a secret.
Posted: 4/12/18 at 2:40pm
Posted: 4/12/18 at 3:05pm
Sondheim supporting trying a gay version of Company, but the consensus seemed to be, following that workshop, that it didn't work.
Posted: 7/12/18 at 11:24am
Amy will be Jamie, played by Jonathan Bailey.
http://www.playbill.com/article/alex-gaumond-and-jonathan-bailey-will-play-same-sex-couple-in-londons-gender-swapped-company
Posted: 7/12/18 at 2:43pm
I can't wait to see this. It feels like the most exciting Sondheim revival we've had in years (at least, for me). Perhaps since the 2011 Follies.
Posted: 7/12/18 at 5:27pm
Well at least that will make sense with the last scene in Act 1...Jamie could be bisexual, which fits the moment when Bobby panics and asks Amy to marry him...
Posted: 7/12/18 at 10:29pm
Really looking forward to hear what people think of this. Company is one of my favorite musicals, and this production sounds really intriguing to me. My only concern is taking it out of the 70's. The musical sounds so 70's. One of my problems (and I had many) with the Doyle revival was that it chose to place the action in contemporary times. I loathed the orchestrations as they took much of the magic out of the music. Hopefully that doesn't happen here, too. I'm cautiously optimistic. Elliott is a magical director. At the very least, I'm sure it won't be boring.
Posted: 7/12/18 at 10:42pm
Posted: 7/12/18 at 11:06pm
I agree that the orchestrations need to have a contemporary sound here. ==I just hope they don't suck the life out of the melody the way Doyle's did. I'm not opposed to the show being set in modern day. Hopefully the person doing the orchestrations lovingly handles the score with care.
And it would be nice to have a Bobby/Bobbie who doesn't play the role like it's Hamlet or King Lear.
Posted: 7/15/18 at 12:05am
Is this where we come to pray for a Broadway transfer?
Posted: 7/15/18 at 8:59am
Very excited here to be going to London to see this revamped production...i am there on the very first Saturday night and cannot wait to see the changes that are being made...on a side note i saw the original Broadway production in the Summer of 1970...it was my very first Broadway show seen on Broadway...so this is a full circle sort of thing for me...and now having a same sex male couple in the show will be even more exciting...thank you Stephen Sondheim for allowing these changes!
Posted: 7/15/18 at 9:20am
reginula said: "Is this where we come to pray for a Broadway transfer?"
YES.
And I also recall more than one party saying the gay version directed by John Tiffany in a reading didn't work. I could be making this up, but something about the tone of the piece, the humor felt wrong with gay men - makes sense to me.
