Company At the Orpheum Theatre is Company You’ll want to Spend as Much Time as Possible in

Continuing the trend of checking off shocking lapses in my theatergoing, I attended the opening night of Stephen Sondheim’s Company as part of the Bank of America Broadway on Hennepin theater season. I’ve seen the D. A. Pennebaker film Original Cast Album: “Company” and the hilarious parody from the TV series Documentary Now “Original Cast Album: Co-Op”. I’ve seen the song “Being Alive” performed by Judd Hirsch on Taxi and Adam Driver in Marriage Story, but I’ve never seen the musical itself. As seems to happen with these shows I’ve always wanted to see but never got the chance, it was a revelation. I am aware of gender changes made in this revival and there are clearly some updates that have been made, smartphones were not in use when the show first opened in 1970. Without tracking down all the changes as I really have nothing to compare it to anyways, I’ll just say that it felt to me, as a new audience member, that this played as if this was how it was always meant to be. Everything from the Gender change of the main character Bobbie from male to female to the same sex marriage felt contemporary and organic.

Company features music and lyrics by the late great Stephen Sondheim with a book by George Furth, whom if you Google him you’ll recognize from such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Blazing Saddles. There isn’t a clear linear plot, but it focuses on a woman named Bobbie, who lives in New york, as she turns 35. We see her throughout the show interacting with her coupled friends, we see the couple about to be married, the couple about to divorce, the couples in the midst of their marriages, and the couple with the woman whose been married three times. We also see her out with boyfriends giving us not only a look into the lives of her friends romantic relationships but also her own. Each scene is like a memory or an exercise in self analysis inside Bobbie’s head. They are clearly not meant to be actual chronological events as we see characters step into scenes they would not have been a part of. We also at one point see Bobbie watching as she sees potential futures play out. We see her observing herself as the hands on the clock above her bed speed around and around. We also see three or four versions of her birthday party which reinforces the idea that this is a look inside her mind as she is reflecting on where she is on her 35th birthday.

The talented cast is led by Britney Coleman as Bobbie who aside from having an amazing singing voice is also effective at affecting the charm and charisma that makes Bobbie so popular with her friends. As this is a story of her self reflections and internal struggles the choice could have been to show her uncertainty, but that would have played to one aspect of the character and in a very simplistic way. Coleman knows that she needs to play Bobbie as the person all her friends, in some way, live vicariously through. We get the self analysis and struggle by the very structure of the show, that is what is happening not who she is. Coleman wisely plays who she is and it makes the character richer and more dynamic. Other performance highlights were James Earl Jones II and Kathryn Allison as Harry and Sarah whose jabbing at each other about their respective faults is done with a physicality and humor that makes them recognizable as we all know couples like them. Matt Rodin who is hilarious as one half of a gay couple who is getting cold feet on the day of their wedding and whose performance of “Getting Married Today” brought down the house. Judy McLane plays Joanne the older friend who has been married three times, her rendition “The Ladies Who Lunch” is another showstopper of a song and she does an impressive job with it. I also have to mention Emma Stratton who plays Jenny and who was kind enough to join M’colleagues Jill Schafer of Cherry and Spoon and Kendra Plant of Artfully Engaging on a recent episode of Twin Cities Theater Chat to talk about the show and her connections to Minnesota which you can listen to here. https://twincitiestheaterchat.buzzsprout.com/2150807/13915394

Truly one of the stars of the show comes in the form of the set design by Bunny Christie which is full of surprises and Chris Fisher who designed the illusions which go hand in hand with the set. It’s a very stylized looking production filled with modular units that are clean and crisp representing the well organized and intelligent mind of Bobbie. The lighting design by Neil Austin helps achieve the look of the show as well as creating some nice visual effects. The Tour is running through November 19th at the Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Minneapolis for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/company-orpheum-theatre-minneapolis-mn-2023/

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