Sondheim Nixed "Gay Company"

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:27am

Turns out Sondheim had vetoed a gay production of Company. Initially it sounds very interesting to make Bobby gay, but I really think the reason the show doesn't lend itself to it is the abundantly heteronormative pressures the other characters are placing on Robert. The male queer community has done the work to bend the "rules" and create an open space for any routes of living whether it be starting a family or not.

That's why a female straight (or Bi) Bobbie works cause that pressure we put on women to have a nuclear family is seemingly never going away unfortunately. 

Male Bobby productions flirt with being dated cause society doesn't push that agenda on straight men as much anymore. So they work best as period pieces reflecting Bobby as someone who grew up in the 50's around the pressures on his parents after the War to settle down and make a home and his ambivalence comes from "do I have to ape that or can I forge my path?" 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:37am

For reference, note that this workshop was announced at the time. I would've killed to see Alan Cumming's "Joanne" 

https://www.playbill.com/article/stephen-sondheim-musical-is-in-new-company-gender-bending-roundabout-reading-with-alan-cumming-bobby-steggert-held-oct-18-com-210709

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:43am

I saw the recent revival and I thought it was well-done and is meant for today's audiences. It just shows that Bobbie doesn't need to be married to feel complete or perfect. You could be EXTREMELY successful and still be single. 

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:59am

Can I just say that the BWW headline for the story is "Sondheim Reveals Nixed Plans for Gay-Version of COMPANY" made me think for a second, has he come back from the dead? I know he's God, and everything, but...

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 12:42pm

It’s well known that the accepted death greeting for dead Jews is “may their memory be a blessing.” But for Sondheim it was “rest in peace.” That’s not a blessing, it’s an order- if we didn’t bury Sondheim deep, he’d have risen up and kept working like death was just a common cold. 

[binau]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 12:46pm

I thought it was common knowledge he didn’t think it worked? Although I don’t think we read it straight from the horse’s mouth so that’s quite interesting. I actually find everything else about the full article more interesting - from his first David Ives collaboration that was cancelled due to others getting there first with the idea, including the film ‘Inside Out’, to his thoughts on specific opera composers, to his thoughts on death and the challenges of writing as he gets older, to what might be the current state of the Brunel musical. A great article!

[ljay889]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 1:05pm

Wow, If this interview was from before Company opened in London, there must’ve been enough Bunuel/Square One material by the time of his death for a somewhat full show. I would even take the first act!

Also, I don’t have any interest in a gay Company, it sounds like he made the right decision. 
 

Updated On: 2/14/22 at 01:05 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 1:57pm

This always sounded like the setup to a late-night joke on Conan or Colbert, somebody who would maybe go a little smutty but not make a total cheap shot.

"So, did you hear this, this is new: Stephen Sondheim is working on a gay version of the musical Company..." Insert punchline here.

[joevitus]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 4:50pm

To "make" Bobby gay? hahahahahahahahahahahaha

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 5:16pm

joevitus said: "To "make" Bobby gay? hahahahahahahahahahahaha"

The entire cast was gay men in this version, with Alan Cumming in the Joanne role.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 5:18pm

This revival being scrapped isn't news –– it would have required a lot more surgery than the current revival, I think. Though it can be interesting to tinker with shows to see if there's a new angle, sometimes it just doesn't work, as with this one.

For those wanting to see Cumming's Ladies Who Lunch, it's not as good as I would have hoped:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef61eRNKJgY

[fosterfan2]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 5:32pm

I love Alan Cumming,but as far as Joanne goes--give me Patti or Elaine.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 5:44pm

This current revival is a little bit of a cheat in my mind. Yeah, they changed all of the genders with the exception of one: they thought they needed a legendary diva to put over THE LADIES WHO LUNCH, so Joanne remained Joanne and Patti’s delivering the song as we all knew she would.

What if Joanne became Johnny (or whatever name they would’ve chosen) and Nathan Lane (for example) belted out a martini-fueled THE LADIES WHO LUNCH…as his “beard,” Laurie, sat by and waited to take Johnny home. The whole original “when are we going to make it” material could still stay as Johnny was still trying to hide his true sexuality…and he’s got the martinis going for him in the moment. Think about it.

Just a thought…

 

Updated On: 2/14/22 at 05:44 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 5:48pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "it's not as good as I would have hoped:"

 

Doesn't strike me as a fair comparison. He's clearly singing it in his own voice, and playing it to the audience as a fun torch song in a cabaret setting. I imagine it would be very different in the context of the show, and with a director. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 6:28pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "joevitus said: "To "make" Bobby gay? hahahahahahahahahahahaha"

The entire cast was gay men in this version, with Alan Cumming in the Joanne role."

Yes, that was obvious. But it's still funny to think of "making" Bobby gay when about 50% or more of the audience has always read him as gay, anyway.

[joevitus]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 6:29pm

Dylan Smith4 said: "I saw the recent revival and I thought it was well-done and is meant for today's audiences. It just shows that Bobbie doesn't need to be married to feel complete or perfect. You could be EXTREMELY successful and still be single."

Except that isn't the message of Company. The message is "alone is alone, not alive."

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 7:37pm

MichelleCraig said: "This current revival is a little bit of a cheat in my mind. Yeah, they changed all of the genders with the exception of one: they thought they needed a legendary diva to put over THE LADIES WHO LUNCH, so Joanne remained Joanne and Patti’s delivering the song as we all knew she would.

What if Joanne became Johnny (or whatever name they would’ve chosen) and Nathan Lane (for example) belted out a martini-fueled THE LADIES WHO LUNCH…as his “beard,” Laurie, sat by and waited to take Johnny home. The whole original “when are we going to make it” material could still stay as Johnny was still trying to hide his true sexuality…and he’s got the martinis going for him in the moment. Think about it.

Just a thought…

"

I absolutely love this in theory. The issue is, what is his issue with the ladies who lunch? If he’s not one of them and isn’t feeling trapped by the inevitable life cycle of being one of that social group, what is the song about? If he’s a gay man, married to a woman…?

I can’t see how it works in an all male version either. Unless the entire scene that proceeds it is rewritten so it’s about a waspish elder gay who missed out on the freedom of his younger counterparts because he was forced into a certain lifestyle by his mother, who was a lady who lunched and and and Etc…my head hurts. I can see why it didn’t happen. 

[goldenboy]

Posted: 2/16/22 at 5:56pm

Back in  around 1972 there was a theatre company called the Octagon Theatre Club at the Carter Hotel. (Was it called the Dixie back then? I don't remember.) 

 

They did  some nice low budget revivals of: The Apple Tree, One Hundred and Ten in the Shade, Drat the Cat and others. They were productions to be proud of. I was in Apple  Tree.

They cast and rehearsed an all gay Company. The day before opening they got a  cease and desist letter  from Someone (sondheim's lawyers?)  and they had to close it. I was in the cast as Kathy now Kevin. I choreographed a large part of it. 

I have to say.. It worked like Gang Busters. It took on a life of is own and worked beautifully. Sondheim is a god but it doen't mean he is always right. I think the gay version worked better than the current version with a female  Katrina Link as Bobby.

And yes they tinkered with the lyrics.

"A Steven kind of Sammy.. A Jimmish Jerome.. Wait for me I'm ready now." Well you get the idea.

 

Obviously without approval or Sondheim's blessing. I think they thought they could get away with it because it was a "theatre club." and you had to be a member of the club to attend the shows. Obviously they were wrong.

Joseph Lillis was the producer director and the unknown cast was top notch. Joanne became Jerome and he was a bitchy queen and he was marvelous. Don't remember the actors name. Ahead of its time perhaps?

 

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 2/16/22 at 6:32pm

Sounds fabulous.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/16/22 at 10:21pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "This revival being scrapped isn't news –– it would have required a lot more surgery than the current revival, I think. Though it can be interesting to tinker with shows to see if there's a new angle, sometimes it just doesn't work, as with this one.

For those wanting to see Cumming's Ladies Who Lunch, it's not as good as I would have hoped:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef61eRNKJgY"

I’m gonna roll the dice and say it was probably better during a professional reading as opposed this video of him singing casually in his East Village cabaret bar.