Company: Not Sorry/Grateful

 

Katrina Lenk as Bobby, photo @ Sara Krulwich

Stephen Sondheim's long, full, productive life came to an end on November 26, 2021. A few weeks later, the last production he supervised and actually attended opened -- Marianne Elliot's gender-flipped Company. 

I saw tonight's performance. I'll just say that I'm familiar with the score but had never seen a fully staged Company in person. 

I don't know what exactly I expected, but I know that I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard in a theater. Company is belly-achingly hysterical, and this lively revival pays homage to the sheer wit of Stephen Sondheim's lyrics and score.

A few things first -- I read up on the gender flip of turning Bobby from a man to a woman (now named Bobbie). I thought this gender flip worked well in some places. Places it worked: 35 seems a more ominous age for a single woman than a bachelor, because of that pesky ticking biological clock. It's more typical of a female to have a group of friends as eclectic as the pack George Furth assembles in his book.

Lupone and Lenk, photo @ Matthew Murphy

Places it did NOT work: the date with April (called Andy in this gender-flip) is obviously meant for a woman of the 1970's. The dialogue mocks a stereotypically ditsy flight attendant. While there are male flight attendants, the dialogue just sounds wrong on a guy, no matter how much Claybourne Elder (Andy) sold it. The encounter with Joanne and Larry also doesn't work as well -- in this version, instead of propositioning Bobb(y)ie, Joanne suggests that Bobbie "make it" with her husband Larry. This change gives Joanne an edge of cruelty that I'm not sure was intentional?

But the changes matter less than one would expect. Bobbie is such an opaque character that him being a female doesn't really change the musical that much. Neither did switching Paul and Amy to the gay couple Paul and Jamie  The more problematic part of Elliot's production is her attempt to update the action to modern-day New York (characters are seen staring into their cell-phones and swiping on Tinder), but the book by George Furth still gives off a very 1970's vibe. It's considered quite the novelty for a married woman to take jujitsu classes, being a flight attendant was considered a strong job to get an MRS, and marriage is still seen as the ultimate goal in life. Also ... are there ladies who lunch in Manhattan nowadays? Joanne is written as a woman from the Betty Draper era, where women often stayed married, miserable, and martini'ed. I laughed when she chided her husband for "jerking about like Ann Miller." Do people even remember who Ann Miller is today?

Katrina Lenk, photo @ Matthew Murphy

Marianne Elliot obviously wanted to cast strong singing actors, and she succeeded for the most part. Katrina Lenk (Bobbie) has this kind of bemused, detached air, and an exotic beauty that makes the fascination with Bobbie more understandable. Lenk is also very funny in a snarky, low-key way. Lenk's actual singing voice was less successful -- it's a bit gravelly, and when she has to belt pitch can sag. I thought she did better in "Marry Me a Little," but "Being Alive" was approached rather gingerly, and as a result wasn't quite the 11 o-clock number it should have been. I didn't think her voice was bad per se, just uneven.

Patti Lupone (Joanne) provided all the voice that Lenk lacked. She's 72 years young but her voice betrays little sign of age. She was exactly what you expected her to be -- waddled in furs and inhaling martinis as she belted "Ladies Who Lunch". Lupone also has an earthy, borscht-belt humor that was a good foil for Lenk. Not much more I can say in praise of Lupone except she's a national treasure. Go see her before she leaves the show.

Matt Doyle, photo @ Matthew Murphy

The whole cast was actually pretty great -- Matt Doyle was wonderfully neurotic as Jamie (here gender-switched from the original "Amy"). He got the biggest applause of the night for the patter song "Getting Married Today."  I also really enjoyed Jennifer Simard and Christopher Sieber as the married couple who turn jujitsu into foreplay. I didn't think Christopher Fitzgerald was that well-utilized as David -- I've seen Fitzgerald in other shows and the uptight character doesn't take advantage of Fitzgerald's zany, quirky energy.

Bunny Christie's set was ingenious -- the never-ending series of doors evoked the claustrophobic world of NYC apartments, where rich people often do live in tiny, cramped closets. The orchestra that was placed above the stage made Sondheim's score sound terrific. I particularly liked the way the orchestra sounded in "Side by Side by Side."

Overall, this revival captures something important about Sondheim -- that up till the end of his life, he was a vital, active person. He would have disliked revivals that were overly reverential and self-serious. Marianne Elliot's Company embraces the humor of the work -- George Furth's book is often like an episodic sitcom, and Elliot's direction made the audience the laugh track for nearly three hours. I'm NOT sorry and VERY grateful for the experience.