On Saturday, apart from seeing Philip’s friend Kim, we had brunch with his former student Holly and attended two shows: a play by one of Philip and Kim’s classmates Douglas Carter Beane, The Little Dog Laughed, and Sondheim’s Company.
I’m going to write about the play, and Philip’s written about Company.
Plays have been few and far between on this trip. There are a couple of reasons for that. The main one, I think, is that we booked this trip so far in advance that many of the plays we wanted to see were closing before we arrived. Then there’s Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy of plays that are not playing all at once (and that Philip feels would have just been frustrating, as we’d only be able to see the first one).
We also haven’t had the greatest experience with plays. Many of the ones we’ve seen in New York lately have been so-so — well produced but not memorable. Exceptions include August Wilson’s Jitney back in 2000, I Am My Own Wife from 2004, and last year’s Doubt. I would add Caroline, or Change, because I have trouble thinking of that as a musical — as Philip says, it’s more of a play with music (although virtually everything is sung). But it’s counted as a musical, so don’t mind me. The other good plays (Tongue of a Bird, Wit) we saw in Oregon in the 90s. This year, Butley was fine, if a little dated, a little English, and Losing Louie was also that — fine. Fun, in places. But this one was different.
And funny as hell. It’s about a Hollywood agent, her movie star client, a heartthrob who happens to be gay, the male escort with whom he falls in love, and the escort’s friend (female). The agent’s a lesbian, and her client is gay, but he’s not allowed to come out because he plays straight sexy parts and is paid big bucks to make the ladies drool and the guys wish they were him.
Julie White, who plays the agent, was brilliant. We were on the floor laughing. Manny, if you’re reading this, you have to see this play. According to her, her client “suffers from a slight recurring case of homosexuality.”
We really enjoyed it. It wasn’t as dense as Butley, or quite as dark. If you like theatre, it’s a cool commentary on Hollywood vs Broadway. We really liked it.
As for Company, here’s what Philip has to say:
My first and only exposure to this musical was a production performed at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts by the second year students during my first year there back in 1978. I purchased the album after seeing it and have listened to that recording over the years. A number of months back I purchased the documentary on the recording of that album and it was great to go behind the scenes of this musical that I had enjoyed listening to these many years.
Of the 13 shows that we saw, only one had really disappointed us and that show was definitely not this one. Company lived up to what I expected it to be. I was not at all bothered by the actors playing instruments. As a matter of fact it was not something that occupied my mind that much during the musical. I wondered afterward if maybe it was because it was something to which I had become accustomed, after seeing the same thing done in Sweeney Todd, or was it that it was more of a natural fit in this production? I have only great admiration for those performers who did what was quite a difficult job and will not dismiss that out of hand as a gimmick. After all it’s Sondheim’s brilliant music that they had to play, which can be difficult for the most seasoned musicians. I thought they did a great job playing it and making that playing look effortless.
What I had not remembered from seeing this musical, almost thirty years ago, was a lot of the crisp dialogue. It was good to here the words of George Furth coupled with the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim and to remember that there is some brilliant writing contained in this piece.
The comparison to the recent revival of Sweeney Todd is inevitable because of the actors playing instruments. I feel, however, that it’s difficult to compare these works based on that aspect alone. One can say that the instrument thing worked better in one show than in the other, but, outside of just that element, these are quite different musicals. I enjoyed Company for what it is but, in my opinion, it’s no Sweeney Todd, which is one of the most brilliant musicals ever written, so it’s not really a good comparison to make.
My last experience watching Raúl Esparza on stage was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I was not very impressed with that show and therefore kind of dismissed his performance. I was very impressed with his performance on Saturday night. His renditions of both ‘Marry Me A Little’ (don’t know why this song was ever cut from the original) and ‘Being Alive’ were brilliant. I think that it was a pretty even cast and that the people who stood out did so mainly because their characters are written to stand out more than others like Joanne (Barbara Walsh) and Amy (Heather Laws). I did not feel that there were any weak performances in this production.
I enjoyed my evening at the theatre. Did I see one of the greatest musical ever written? No. I did however see a show that is so much better than a number of musicals presently playing on Broadway, including the Tony Winning Best Musical Spamalot and that disappointment up on 53rd street called A Color Purple.
