The one Broadway show everyone wanted to see, the latest revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” will finally open January 9th after an almost two year wait.
“Company” was going into previews when the pandemic started. And then it was stopped cold in its tracks.
Patti Lupone stars with the great Katrina Lenk, each Tony Award winners played parts usually portrayed by male actors. The show, directed by Marianne Elliot, was a huge hit in London.
Previews begin December 20th. The whole thing will sell out before I finished typing this sentence.
The musical comedy masterpiece about the search for love and cocktails in the Big Apple is turned on its head in Elliott’s revelatory staging, in which musical theatre’s most iconic bachelor becomes a bachelorette. At Bobbie’s (Lenk) 35th birthday party, all her friends are wondering why isn’t she married? Why can’t she find the right man? And, why can’t she settle down and have a family? This whip smart musical comedy, given a game-changing makeover for a modern-day Manhattan, features some of Sondheim’s best loved songs, including “Company,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Side by Side,” and the iconic “Being Alive.”
This is the fourth time “Company” has been revived, its fifth production overall. The original production launched a landmark documentary made by DA Pennebaker, still the template for great films about Broadway shows. The original cast was featured making the album for the show, with Elaine Stritch giving one of the all time musical performances on film. You can buy that now on DVD over on amazon while waiting for this production. It’s worth it.
