Broadway Rant: Company

I someday have planned a post on the music of Stephen Sondheim in general, but I decided to talk about Company first for two reasons:

1) It's on Netflix instant stream currently, which means, if the review piques your interest, you can watch it with little difficulty.

2) It's about a single man in his 30's whose friends are all married. For some reason, it strikes a chord in me.

Company is an older musical (1970's), but not one I grew up knowing. It's not really what I would call family-friendly; although, by today's standards, it is pretty tame. It's really more of a series of vignettes than it is an overarching narrative. The lead, Bobby, is a single man approaching his birthday, and he gets these glimpses into the lives of his married friends, which cause him to reflect on his own relationships.

In many ways, this is the anti-Rent. All of these people are well-to-do, not overburdened with worries about having a place to live or dying of a fatal disease. Their problems are along the lines of relationship satisfaction, and whether it's better to be married or single. In other words, the same things people who go to the theater worry about, and the same things many of my clients bring up in therapy.

The songs themselves are thought-provoking in the way that Sondheim's stuff usually is. Bobby is a familiar archetype-he says he wants to be in a committed relationship, but he's afraid of commitment at the same time. I don't know any people like that. I'm certainly not one of those people. The songs perfectly describe the weirdness of being single with lines like, "Marry me a little, love me just enough."

The video available on Netflix features the 2006 production, which is really unique because all of the principle cast plays instruments. Think about that for a second. I am not talking about people playing the tambourine (though there is one cast member who plays the triangle); I'm talking about a French horn, the oboe, violins, a cello, everything. The cast is actually singing while they play (okay, not the woodwinds or the brass, but the strings and Triangle Lady). And, if I'm not mistaken, some of them are actually playing several different instruments, like the cast is a bunch of junior high band teachers.

Apparently, the director, John Doyle, of the production is a big fan of actors playing the instruments. I think it really works for Company, but he also directed Sweeney Todd that way, and I have trouble seeing Patti Lupone playing the tuba as Mrs. Lovett. And while a lot of people think it loses something with the minimalist orchestration, I kind of like the way the instruments become part of the cast. For example, the instruments really pay off during one song that features a call-and-answer of the husbands and their wives, while Bobby plays a sad, pathetic kazoo, and no one answers back, reminding him, yet again, what he doesn't have because he's single.

Ouch, Company. Ouch.