IBDb = Internet Broadway Database5 of 22
With a high degree of sophistication, Claudio Botelho and Charles Moeller signed in 2000 the production of "Company" by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, this being the first performance of a work of Sondheim in Portuguese. 'Company' became a critical and popular success and was attended by both Sondheim and Furth, who visited Brazil specially to check the Brazilian troupe. Sondheim went backstage to talk with the cast and spent a few minutes with Claudio, who must have had then the most precious moments of his (Claudio's, of course) life. The composer's words were a mixture of praise and surprise as he found so prepared a cast in Brazil. Altogether, a cast of 14 actors and an orchestra of 13 musicians, conducted by André Goes, participated in this outstanding (far from revolutionary) version of Sondheim's musical. All songs were translated into Portuguese by Claudio, who had already adapted the author's lyrics when he staged, as from 1995, the show "Sondheim Tonight" alongside Claudia Netto. In "Company," Bogtelho updated the action for the present time, since the text had been written in the 70s. Tha cast also included Claudia Netto, Totia Meireles, Daniel Boaventura, Regina Restelli, Solange Badim, Ricca Barros, Cidália Castro, Mauro Gorini Raul Sawyer, Paul Mello, Sabrina Korgut, Doriana Mendes and Patricia Levy. The show was characterized by humor and lightness, as a counterpoint to the original American version (directed by Harold Prince). 'Company' remained for five months in Rio theaters and was quite successful. The same did not happen in Sao Paulo, where the show debuted on the same day of the biggest blockbuster of the musical 'Les Miserables'. The timing did not work.