‘COMPANY’: Katrina Lenk. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

COMPANY
Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Directed by Marianne Elliott
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), https://companymusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

The latest Company revival could drive a critic (and purists) crazy with British director Marianne Elliott’s new, often confusing and very European spin on this masterpiece that has never needed tampering. Why?  It is the quintessential New York musical, a show renowned for its simplicity, sophistication and gorgeous score, featuring classics like “Being Alive,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “Another Hundred People,” “Getting Married Today” and others.  What’s offered here is a 21^st century perspective to dust off the narrative cobwebs and dated dialogue and make it relevant in 2021, but the score by Stephen Sondheim (who died last month) is so timeless that there was no need for a major overhaul here   More than 50 years have passed since Company first premiered on Broadway but much of the overall premise of the show rings true today.  Manhattan is still a maddening, overcrowded insane world with millions of people, and it’s still so easy to feel alone when you’re single.  This is certainly one of Mr. Sondheim’s greatest works, if not the best.  George Furth’s original book was—dare I say it?—ahead of its time back in 1970 when Company premiered on Broadway.  Many aspects of the show—tiny Manhattan apartments, expectations about getting married, the hustle and bustle of the New York City subway—are still relevant today.  Company is both an all-American musical and a paean to New York City, but Ms. Elliott’s interpretation (a hit in 2018 in London) has diminished many of the charms of the original show.

Director Marianne Elliott’s biggest change to the story is swapping the gender of lead character Bobby. Tony Award winner Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit) plays Bobbie, a single Manhattan woman celebrating her 35^th birthday.  Ms. Lenk has a great voice and an effervescent stage presence, but she appears too bland and emotionally distant for audiences to root for her, and this is problematic since the original Bobby was always the least interesting character in Company.

Marianne Elliott did such a superb job with the 2018 Broadway revival of Angels in America and the 2014 British import The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, so it is disappointing that she has added too much European-style excess here, from a scene showing Bobbie in the rain to various characters running through Bobbie’s bedroom during the “Barcelona” number in act two.  The last revival in 2006, starring Raul Julia as Bobby, was also very minimalist and featured gimmicky touches from another British director, John Doyle.  Remember how John Doyle had the actors play instruments onstage in the revival of Company and, in 2005, Sweeney Todd?  One of the changes that truly works is changing a straight couple to a gay couple. The character of Jamie (originally Amy) is played with manic exuberance by Matt Doyle as a gay man about to marry his partner Paul (Etai Benson).  Mr. Doyle truly stops the show with his outstanding rendition of “Getting Married Today.”  He displays all the nervous emotions of wedding-day jitters that both men and women, straight or gay, can relate to, and Mr. Doyle should certainly be a front-runner for a Tony Award in a few months.

Another standout is Tony nominee Jennifer Simard as Sarah, the diet-crazed woman married to recovering alcoholic Harry (Christopher Sieber).  Fans of Patti LuPone will not be disappointed with her take on the glamorous, acid-tongued Joanne, Bobbie’s oldest and dearest friend who loves to talk about her many husbands.  Ms. LuPone is her usual over-the-top self, belting out one of the show’s most famous songs, “The Ladies Who Lunch,” with her famous tough-diva pipes.

Scenic designer Bunny Christie mostly fills the stage with Neon-lit boxes and Mylar balloons in an attempt to make the show more contemporary, but doing so takes away some of the show’s New York accent.  Anyone who has at least studied the 1970 original remembers the set was actually a character in the show. Walter Kerr wrote in his 1970 New York Times review that the set by Boris Aronson “at first looks like the prison setting for ‘The Last Mile’ [but] becomes a breath-taking mobile, an interlocked Tinker-Toy of rippling platforms, sighing elevators, spun-glass spindles for dances to chin themselves on.”  In this revival, the set designs look nothing like New York City and could be Anywhere, USA.

Despite this revival’s many shortcomings, it is worth seeing Company simply for the score resurrected one more time to truly appreciate the late, great Mr. Sondheim and hear all the beautiful songs by the last of the great Broadway songsmiths.

Edited by David NouNou
Published December 12, 2021
Reviewed at December 11, 2021 press performance.

‘COMPANY’: (left to right) Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, Katrina Lenk & Patti LuPone. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: (left to right) Claybourne Elder, Manu Narayan, Bobby Conte. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: Katrina Lenk & Claybourne Elder. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: (left to right) Rashidra Scott, Katrina Lenk & Greg Hildreth. Photo: Brinkhoff-Moegenbur.

‘COMPANY’: Matt Doyle. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: Katrina Lenk. Photo: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.

‘COMPANY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: Mitchell Jarvis. Photo: Joan Marcus

GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
Book by Ken Davenport & The Grundleshotz
Additional material by Sarah Saltzberg
Music & lyrics by Mark Allen
Directed by John Rando
Choreography by Chris Bailey
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street.
(212-239-6200),www.gettinthebandbacktogether.com

By David NouNou

You know there are problems with a show when the lead producer, Ken Davenport, jumps on stage before the curtain rises and announces “you are going to see an original musical tonight” and the audience swallows this hook, line and sinker with enthusiastic applause. The first unraveling clue to Mr. Davenport’s announcement comes in the form of the show’s title, Gettin’ the Band Back Together. Well, you don’t have to be Hercule Poirot to figure out the plot. The title says it all. What is worse is when the clichés start piling up and the dialogue and setups become juvenile and dreary. Poor New Jersey gets the worst of the brunt. So many lame one-liners are heaped on this much-maligned state that the creators felt compelled to write an unmemorable song named “Jersey.” So much for originality.

The story is simple, focusing on Mitch Papadopoulos (Scott Richard Foster—the lead Mitchell Jarvis was out at the performance we saw but no explanation was given why the lead was out since the opening was just the previous night). A leaflet inserted in the Playbill notified us of this change. Believe me, that has more mystery to it than the show itself. But I digress. Mitch left Jersey, his band, and his girl 20 years ago to pursue a career on Wall Street. He had to give up his childhood dreams and grow up and assume responsibility in order to pay the bills as he often tells us.

As the curtain goes up, Mitch is fired from his Wall Street job due to his poor performance level and he has to move back in with his widowed mother, Sharon (Marilu Henner) who lives in Jersey. Mitch reunites with his former classmates and rock band members Bart Vickers (Jay Klaitz), Sully Sullivan (Paul Whitty), and Robbie Patel (Manu Narayan). And, of course, the girl he left behind, Dani Franco (Kelli Barrett).

Their band was known as the Juggernauts. In order to create tension, there was a rival band known as Mouthfeel. So, a rivalry of the bands was formed 20 years ago when the Juggernauts won a contest and the leader of the losing team, Tygen Billows (Brandon Williams), head of the band Mouthfeel, has never gotten over this loss and you know there will be a grudge match: Mouthfeel vs Juggernauts.

There are more characters but they are the requisite stereotypical fillers that all “original” musicals have. Credit has to be given to Scott Richard Foster for having the acting muscles to pull off the leading role the night after the opening. Marilu Henner gives her all and you can see she is thrilled to be back on Broadway and gives it her best shot. The third is Kelli Barrett, who gives a creditable performance and is in good voice in the part of the love interest. As for the rest of the performances, there is enough ham and bologna here to open a deli.

John Rando is normally such an adept director, with shows like Urinetown, On the Town, and this spring’s wonderful off-Broadway show Jerry Springer – The Opera which was truly original and innovative. Here, however, I guess he went off track in this too “original” musical. However, he injected the cast with enough energy to keep the proceedings moving. Derek McLane. who usually does brilliant set designs, misses the mark by creating a comic-strip design which further entrenches this musical in a cartoonish milieu.

I guess Mr. Davenport didn’t get the memo that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock musical, now at the Winter Garden, is also getting the band together but with kids. Mr. Davenport’s “original” version is “School of Rock for Seniors.” The only original musical that comes to mind from recent years is Kathie Lee Gifford’s Scandalous…connect the dots.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published August 16, 2018
Reviewed at August 15, 2018 press performance.

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: Brandon Williams & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: Marilu Henner (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: (left to right) Manu Narayan, Jay Klaitz, Paul Whitty (center), Sawyer Nunes & Mitchell Jarvis. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: (Left to right) Manu Narayan, Jay Klaitz, Mitchell Jarvis, Tad Wilson, Paul Whitty & Sawyer Nunes. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: (Left to right) Tamika Lawrence, Sawyer Nunes, Jay Klaitz (seated), Paul Whitty,  Manu Narayan, Tad Wilson (seated). Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: Jay Klaitz & Mitchell Jarvis. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: Mitchell Jarvis. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER’: Jay Klaitz & Marilu Henner. Photo: Joan Marcus

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