Who's seeing COMPANY tonight?- Page 4

[musikman]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:05pm

Hmmm, what's that big, loud group of people making noises behind the performers????


Ohh THAT'S what an orchestra looks like??

*COUGHjohn doyleCOUGH*

[Noel&Cole]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:08pm

I'm seeing in Saturday and I am still really excited. Although I would agree that COMPANY does not lend itself to the Philharmonic treatment as well as something like MY FAIR LADY or CAMELOT would.

Still looking forward to it though

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:11pm

More reviews

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/04/dispatch-from-new-york-stephen-colbert-patti-lupone-jon-cryer-neil-patrick-harris-in-company.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/apr/08/company-review-stephen-colbert-sondheim

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/04/08/stephen-colbert-neil-patrick-harris-company/

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:11pm

SOMEBODY sit in his chair and ruin his sleep.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:11pm

Oh, wow, you're hilarious!

ETA -- sorry PJ, et al., you snuck in there.

Had to read Murray's review twice. Opinion aside, what obtuse writing. I'm assuming the Times will review, but I wonder who it'll be.

Updated On: 4/8/11 at 02:11 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:15pm

Count me as one who is not a fan of the answering machine opening. I think any time the show is unmoored from the 70s, it sort of confuses the whole evening. Too much of the book and lyrics ("You know what the pulse of the city is?” “A busy signal?”, "My service will explain," pretty much ALL of "Have I Got a Girl For You") makes it clear the show is not meant to take place in this era, despite any sprinklings of "updates" throughout.

I can't wait to see this when it airs in theaters.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:22pm

I was just thinking about "or my service will explain," and why that was never among the updates. I can't think of a better explanation than that finding another line to fit the rhyme and the rhythm was impossible? At least in the 90's, we still had busy signals even if we don't now.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:24pm

With the exception of "simplest of crimes" becoming "cleanest of crimes" in "Little Things" I can't think of any other lyrical changes from 1970 to now. Oh, well that and the whole "fag" fracas.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:28pm

I think there are one or two others but I can't recall them off the top of my head. Most of the changes are to the book, though.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:30pm

It's hard for me to say because when I get a Company urge, I almost exclusively listen to the original cast.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 2:35pm

Ha, I'm the opposite, so let's fuse our brains!

(Though lately I have been going for '95 or the Jazz version because I want something with few associations.)

[newintown]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:00pm

I always agree with Sondheim's statement that the original version/performance of his work is the best.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:04pm

musikman, it was really nice to hear the score played with a full orchestra
Updated On: 4/8/11 at 03:04 PM

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:09pm

I will be at the Saturday Matinee too! (Hey, RAY! Would love to say hi! )

[Born in a Ditch]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:10pm

I thought NPH's acting was superb but I am not a fan of his voice too much. I might be in the minority but I thought Katie Finneran's performance was fantastic! She was crazy but everything she did felt so real. Patti Lupone did a tremendous job. I usually love Anika but I thought her song lacked. Her book scenes were hysterical though.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:25pm

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/theater_review_in_comes_compan.html

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:36pm

What it adds up to is Dancing With the Stars for Broadway nerds...

Hah.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:45pm

If any BWWers want to meet up for a drink at intermission tomorrow night, PM me!

[musikman]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 3:57pm

"musikman, it was really nice to hear the score played with a full orchestra"

I have no doubt!!! Wish I could have been there Blockhead.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 4:17pm

What is the concert's running time?

[Just_John]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 4:35pm

Did they sell any merchandise?

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 4:42pm

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/company-theater-review-176559

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 4/8/11 at 5:11pm

I know I'm probably in the minority here, but the orchestrations as I can hear them on that clip sound GREAT to me. And I like all of it except Being Alive, which I am going to wait to really judge until I see the whole thing (whenever that may be...)

Posted: 4/8/11 at 6:52pm

"I agree with you Eric about the phone messages. I see why people think they are cute, funny, etc. but I don't think they are organic to the feel of the original script (which includes references to answering services). I do think the expanded Bobby-Kathy scene is important, but in general I'm not a big fan of script revision decades after the original."

YES, I will concede that I do think that scene adds a lot--and as I said I like the "gay scene" partly because it helps end speculation that Bobby's prob isn't connecting, but that he's gay (well, it SHOULD help end speculation, but critics seem to still love to carp on the issue, as if they realized something about the play the authors didn't...)

And exactly--the "service'll explain" line is dated anyway, but some people DO still use services (mainly in my experience doctors, etc)--but again it just makes the whole answering machine thing make even less sense.

"It's NOT a timeless show - it's utterly a part of the time in which it was created; I'm surprised how little people understand that the early 70s were a very different time than today. Company just doesn't zing like it should when you take it out of its time."

WORD. They experimented with setting Company in the "now", and I wish they'd realize it doesn't work. Yes, back in 1970 it was set "now", and sure it's not Promises Promises or How To Succeed or even Sweet Charity where the setting, sexual politics, etc, just come off as when it's not set in the time it was written. But... They still kinda do.

I wasn't born until 1980, but even I know that many details don't seem right (like the giggly pot scene antics which I doubt would play the same now if any sophisticated Manhattan group of friends were toking up). They also updated some parts (again, I would obviously keep the "gay" instead of "fag" lyric in), but other parts they haven't... Things like... "Does anybody Still wear a hat", the reference to Mahler (who was suddenly in massive vogue again around that time), the "my service'll explain" lyric, "my analyst " (again yes people still see Freudian analysts but not nearly as much, it's now usually just your psychologist, shrink, etc), sazarac slings (sp), etc, etc.

I admit I also don't like many of the smaller changes, like making Joanne more sympathetic from the start, to even small details like the husband who tells about how many bottles of wine he drank now being reduced to about 1/3 the amount of wine, when I thought the very point was he was exagerating.

Anyway, I guess one thing that bugs me is that many people don't realize just how much of the original script was revised--many critics act like it was just adding Marry Me a Little (again a change I don't mind), the answering machine messages, and the "gay" scene. But the whole script was really overhauled, and frankly, with the exceptions I mentioned, I prefer the original. (And that's not just me saying that cuz I tend to prefer original versions of things--for example I think the changes made to Cabaret in 1987 and even later were mainly for the better).

You hear so much about the changes made for Follies and a desire to return to the original script, which I agree with, but I feel the same way about Company. Hell even the music, which often is a sort of Sondheim version of Bacharach style adult contemporary music of the time, screams 1970 to me.

Posted: 4/8/11 at 6:55pm

"I was just thinking about "or my service will explain," and why that was never among the updates. I can't think of a better explanation than that finding another line to fit the rhyme and the rhythm was impossible? At least in the 90's, we still had busy signals even if we don't now."

"My facebook status'll explain!"

:P