User Reviews

Stephen Sondheim's iconic Broadway musical Company was beautifully revived in 2011 with a star-studded cast, some updating of material, and accompanied by the New York Philharmonic with longtime Sondheim musical director Paul Gemignani at the baton.

This musical originally premiered on Broadway in 1970 and won the Tony for Best Musical, as did Sondheim for Best Score. Company is the story of Robert, a 35 year old bachelor whose best friends are five married couples who constantly worry about him and are in constant pursuit of the perfect woman for him.

Harry and Sarah are approaching middle age and bring Robert in the middle of their battles with sobriety and dieting. Robert thinks Susan and Peter are the perfect couple until they announce their plan to divorce. Jenny and David smoke pot with Robert and Jenny pretends to enjoy it more than she really did. Paul and Amy have been living together for years and have finally decided to marry, which has Amy freaking out. Larry and Joanne are an older couple so comfortable in their lives they really don't see how unhappy they are with each other.

Dean Jones originated the role of Robert in 1970 and Elaine Stritch became an instant Broadway legend with her performance as Joanne. The musical was revived in 2007 with Raul Esparza playing Robert and had the "novelty" of having all the actors playing musical instruments throughout the show, which I personally found very distracting.

That's why I prefer this version...back to the source material, keeping the 70's sensibility alive but making the show still New Millennium- friendly. A song that was cut from the original production called "Marry Me a Little" has been restored, as well as a VERY funny scene where Peter (Craig Bierko) comes on to Robert after he informs him of the divorce. Needless to say, with Nail Patrick Harris playing Robert, this scene produces huge laughs.

The role of Robert and Neil Patrick Harris seems to be the perfect marriage of character and actor. Harris proved to be more than up to the vocally demanding role, with "Marry Me a Little" being a standout performance. After watching Harris playing womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother all those years, it was great to see him play a flawed, but genuinely nice guy.

Broadway legend Patti LuPone, as always, puts her personal stamp on the role of Joanne and literally stops the show with her rendition of "The Ladies Who Lunch". It's clearly a matter of personal taste, but I have always felt that Elaine Stritch owns that song and LuPone's performance did nothing to change my mind, but the audience on this DVD loved it.

Mention should also be made of Stephen Colbert, who was surprisingly effective as Harry, perfectly complimented by Martha Plimpton as Sarah. Colbert and Plimpton were a well-oiled machine and I have never enjoyed Harry and Sarah's scene so much. Loved Julie Finerman as Amy as well. She also stopped the show with "Getting Marred Today" and Christina Hendricks brings a depth to the role of April, a dim-witted stewardess Robert is dating, that I have never seen in previous Aprils.

Sondheim's flawless score includes "Little Things", "Sorry-Grateful", "You Could Drive a Person Crazy", "Another Hundred People', and the classic "Being Alive." As I've mentioned before here Sondheim is probably Broadway's best composer and is definitely Broadway's best lyricist because Sondheim doesn't write music the way people sing, he writes it the way they talk.

For Sondheim and musical theater purists, this is a must-see.

With those lyrics by Stephen Sondheim in 1970 sung to his music, a new style of Broadway musical was born. Controversial even then because of subtle undertones of homosexuality and the swingin' life of the New York well-to-do, "Company" went onto become another stepping stone towards the modern musical, and 40 years later, still produces great debates and conversations over musical aficionados of every age, gender, race, and sexual persuasion.

This brief concert production was jam-packed with talent, and some of them fare better than others. Any production of "Company" will be compared (as his next show, "Follies") to the original, and anybody who takes on the basically supporting role of Joanna will be compared to the incomparable Elaine Stritch. Bobby, the leading character, will always be subject to great scrutiny of his sexuality. A single male, living in Manhattan in the late 60's/early 70's, dating many women, yet not settling down, may find himself compared to "The Boys in the Band", yet Bobby isn't some self-hating bitchy queen "barely alive": he is searching for "Being Alive!", his 11:00 anthem of survival in a society that is dealing with changing relationships and his many friends who desperately are trying to get him attached.

Here, Bobby is Neil Patrick Harris, one of the great wonders of the millennium, a former child star who has made it past those "Doogie Houser" days and is now called to host practically every award show there is. Not afraid to make fun of his own sexuality, yet also not afraid to play heterosexual as well, Harris is a charming performer who has continued to work in practically every medium, returning to the stage as his schedule permits. He is also ageless, about a decade too old for Bobby in years, yet still youthful that he can take the role on and appear to be in his early 30's. He is also masculine enough to portray straight, although subtle hints about his character's possible sexuality are hinted at by others around him. Sometimes, however, the orchestra and Harris seem to be out of tune with each other, mostly evident in the opening number. As this was a live show and only had a handful of performances, glitches are expected, and by the time Harris gets to "Marry Me a Little" and "Being Alive", those issues have been cleared up.

The other glitch in singing comes during "You Could Drive a Person Crazy", the three singers all so different that the trio isn't as polished as it could have been. Anika Noni Rose really rips "Another Hundred People" apart, and like the equally diminutive La Chanze (from the 1995 Roundabout Production which I saw), brings the rawness out of this 1970's New York Anthem about the "City of Strangers". Martha Plimpton is also very funny as the wife who warns her self-defense teaching husband that "it can't be blocked", and proves herself right.

Many major divas, from Jane Russell, Vivian Blaine, Julie Wilson, Carol Burnett, Debra Monk, Judith Light and Barbara Walsh, have taken on the role of the show's most famous "guest": the much divorced Joanne, the "I'll Drink to That!" socialite demanding "Another Vodka Stinger!". Here, it is Patti LuPone, and when she rips into "The Ladies Who Lunch", you swear you are living theater history. Joanne is basically a supporting role, but gets more musical numbers than the others (including "The Little Things You Do Together" and a scathing line regarding one of Bobby's dates in "Poor Baby") and with LuPone in the part, that factor remains.

I can't call this the quintessential "Company", although the staging at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall (sight of the 1985 "Follies" concert) is perfect for what it is. As the 2007 Broadway revival is also available commercially (with the actors playing instruments as well as singing), there is a "let's compare" temptation. But any filmed production of a Sondheim show (or any Broadway show for that matter!) is welcome, and makes you wish for more.