Tick Tock- Company- Page 4

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 11:08am

But how is Happily Ever After a reaction to Amy changing her mind and running after Paul?

She leaves him with, "You have to want to marry SOMEBODY, Bobby. Not just some BODY."

Does that piss him off? Would he mock and trivialize their "happily ever after" moment? I don't see that.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 11:13am

I don't find Bobby's "sudden" proposal to Amy to be any more sincere than his pleas for April to "stay," during Barcelona.

He says it because he knows (or he thinks he knows) there's no way it could happen. There's a safety in proposing to the "unavailable."

I don't think he really wants to suddenly marry Amy while she stands there in her wedding dress, having just rejected one of Bobby's other close friends (Paul). He just blurts it out because he feels sorry for her. He'll jump in and save the day. He doesn't mean it. He would have a really big "Oh, God" moment if she had said yes.

It's the same cat and mouse game he plays with Kathy. He tells her he wanted to marry her a while ago, only because it's in the past and he is removed from it now. He loves flirting with the fire as long as he's sure he can't actually get burned by someone saying "yes." He's not ready for that.

EDIT: I will add that this is the one part of "Marry Me a Little" that I really like. The ending of the song where he keeps repeating, "I'm ready! I"m ready!" Neil Patrick Harris did a wonderful acting job on it, where it started out all big and confident, and each "I'm ready!" lost more steam and got quieter as if he doubted it more and more.

Updated On: 7/2/13 at 11:13 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 11:14am

Also regarding the bisexual idea, the original "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" contained the "fag" lyric. Obviously that's been changed, but it wouldn't make sense for them to sing that lyric if Bobby was interested in men.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 11:19am

I've always wondered if the Amy proposal was a nod to the film The Graduate.

[qazdannywsx]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 11:53am

The fag lyric has been changed into: "I could understand a person if he said to go away, I could understand a person if he happened to be gay". So I guess the need for that line remains..

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 11:58am

I certainly buy your analysis, besty...but when I'm working on something, I try to look at the moment for maximal impact. So if Bobby really isn't risking anything when proposing to Amy, then it doesn't become a dynamic moment in the show. And, since it's the end of Act One, there has to be some question left hanging in the air. I agree with...was it newintown?...that Marry Me a Little is kind of the same song as Someone is Waiting, in a way. I think it would be fascinating to see Bobby have a stronger reaction to Amy's rejection (and, indeed, the complete insanity of the scene before) with Happily Ever After. Or...we can just have the original end to Act One from 1970.

I just don't think Marry Me a Little is the right moment for COMPANY (though I agree that Harris made it work better than most because of what you described).

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:06pm

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like Marry Me a Little as the Act I closer (I know, differences of opinion and all that).

I don't think Someone Is Waiting is the same song either. That's his version of "Someday My Prince(ess) Will Come."

"Marry Me a LIttle" is a moment where (again this is IMO) he has just offered marriage to someone who halted her wedding, in the name of pity ... or was it? That's his big dilemma to close out the first act. If he knows he is sincerely proposing to her, someone who is "suddenly available," then we're already at the end of the play, not Act I. (Actually, we're beyond the end of the play at least as far as Bobby's emotional progression.)

But I think this is the first time he's done it where he "thinks" he might actually mean it. He might have gone through with it, too! (Maybe?)

That's why Marry Me ... a Little is a good fit. It's an "almost there now" moment that ends Act 1. He's sings, "I'm ready!" But is he? I don't think he knows yet. But he's closer than he's ever been before. That much he knows.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:12pm

Here's my read on the three "Bobby Pondering" songs.

"Someone Is Waiting" is a moment in which he considers the possibility of an ideal being out there, someone he could settle down with, without regrets.

"Marry Me A Little" is his realization that marriage would have to be a compromise- that he is unable or unwilling to change, and wants someone to accept that, as he is, without having to let his walls down.

"Being Alive" is his realization that relationships are compromise and are difficult, and that he is ready to accept that, and not be unnecessarily guarded.

So, at least as I saw it, there is a progression there.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:15pm

But that's exactly why I don't like it. It's such a slow burn to BEING ALIVE with no dynamic change beforehand. It makes Bobby precious...and it kind of bores me. Watching someone ponder for 2 1/2 hours is just tedious. I think Happily Ever After would give him a strong point of view that he must then deal with.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:20pm

My question (and I've posed it here before) is how has no one done a version that uses Happily Ever After at the end of Act One instead of the lovely, but oh so wrong Marry Me a Little?

I love this idea so much.

And I despise people who want to play Bobby as gay. That's an entirely different story: The story of closeted men in the pre-Stonewall era pretending to be straight.

It's a great story, a dramatic story, an important story, a story that needs to be told...BUT IT IS NOT THE STORY OF COMPANY!

Company is the story of a straight man who is afraid to commit...not the story of a gay man who is pretending to be straight.

All of the songs--the final songs and the songs that have been cut--were written to shed light on that dilemma...NOT ON THE DILEMMA OF THE CLOSET IN THE 1960s.

All of the stories of the supporting characters--the married couples and the single women--were written to shed light on that dilemma...NOT ON THE DILEMMA OF THE CLOSET IN THE 1960s.

Anybody who wants to produce a Company with a gay Bobby should write their own musical called "A Musical About a Gay Man Named Bobby Who Is Pretending to be Straight in 1960s New York City."

[newintown]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:22pm

Agreed with Robbie - a show that's an inexorable straight march towards the conclusion is less interesting than one that falls back, moves sideways, and offers things you didn't expect.

"Marry Me A Little," as used now, is just an excuse for an actor to look tormented and soulful into the spotlight.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:24pm

^ Although you're getting a little Kanye with the all caps, I agree with every word you just wrote, Joey.

I didn't hate the 'gay' scene in the Harris version, because I thought Harris played it beautifully...it wasn't about a closeted gay (or even bi) man, but a straight man who had a sexual experience with a guy. And what disgusted him was not his torment of the closet, but his ideal of what marriage should be coming face to face with what marriage actually is. But the following scene with Joanne does that just fine. So, really, it's just completely superfluous.

Updated On: 7/2/13 at 12:24 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:49pm

"The fag lyric has been changed into"

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that. But I'm so used to listening to the Cleo Laine version where I think she sings "if a person was a drag".

"Marry Me A Little," as used now, is just an excuse for an actor to look tormented and soulful into the spotlight."

This is SO right. That's exactly what it is. And for Bobby to have the Act 1 closing song.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:51pm

I will also go on record as saying I hate that the 'fag' lyric has been changed.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 12:56pm

^^ It confused the British. They couldn't understand why Bobby was being called a cigarette.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:04pm

Not to bring up a lot of side issues about the show, BUT...

What about the birthdays? There are three of them. Is Act 2 a "redo" of Act 1? Robert realizes he didn't get it right, so he's allowed to go back and do it over again?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:13pm

I believe the answer to that question comes clear only after smoking a doobie.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:17pm

^^Maybe that's the drag that Cleo Laine sings about in her version.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:19pm

What about the birthdays? There are three of them. Is Act 2 a "redo" of Act 1? Robert realizes he didn't get it right, so he's allowed to go back and do it over again?

According to Hal Prince, the entire play happens in an instant just as Bobby is about to be surprised for his 35th birthday. So there is no "linear time" or progression of time in this "concept musical" that takes place in Bobby's mind.

The three birthdays are all the same birthday. Different versions of what it might be.

Updated On: 7/2/13 at 01:19 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:32pm

Even at the age of 15, when I first saw Company, that was clear to me. I've always been surprised how literal-minded some people can be about the birthdays in the show.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:43pm

Well, I think it's understandably confusing, depending on how it's staged. The problem is that this collision of ideas, memories, and emotions that "happen in an instant" in Bobby's mind still has to play out in a linear fashion in front of an audience.

In the hands of a bad director, I'm sure it could be messed up easily.

I believe there is (or was?) some wording in the original Playbill (help me out here!) that says it. Of course how many people read their Playbills before seeing a show?

*raises hand*

[newintown]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 1:56pm

Even by the 70s, though, "experimental" (non-linear) storytelling was well-integrated into even the most commercial theatre. But, as I said, there are many who can only watch a show or movie in a very literal/linear way, no matter how "clearly" it's been directed.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 2:01pm

Getting back to Happily Ever After as an Act I closer. It doesn't work for me, because if Bobby were to have that bitter of a reaction after his "snap proposal"' to Amy it would mean several things:

1) He sincerely wanted to marry his best friend's fiancée 12 seconds after she called off her engagement .. which is truly smarmy.

2) He doesn't give a sh*t about his close friend Paul or Paul's feelings even though Bobby is his "best man."

3) He was sincerely thinking about the possibility of marring Amy for all of 12 seconds before he proposed, yet he's "deeply hurt" when she rejects him enough to suddenly (12 more seconds later) think marriage isn't such a great thing. (More emotional whiplash than Kathy Bates in "Misery.")

4) It makes "Happily Ever After" a spoiled brat's song from someone who didn't get his way about what he "really, really wanted" for all of 12 serious seconds.

5) If he has really loved Amy enough to marry her for a while now, he sure doesn't give us or himself any indication that he feels this way.

6) Bobby is seriously a douche.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 2:04pm

^ And I don't have a problem with any of those things listed. Cause, in effect, Bobby is kind of a douche. His behavior through the entire evening says this.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/2/13 at 2:11pm

I just think you run the risk (which you may be fine with, but I'm not) of turning him into an antihero.

He definitely should have faults and flaws. All good characters should, but being a smarmy douche crosses the line into antihero. Then I lose interest in the outcome. His "fault" is his inability to commit to love and marriage.

(Case in point, Jerry Maguire. Some people adore that movie. After the first 20 minutes, I didn't care what happened to him.)