It was with trepidation that we received the news that someone had
dared to "subvert Sondheim", when back in the early summer we heard that a new production of The Master of the Musical's groundbreaking 1970 hit
Company was coming to the West End with - heaven forfend! -
a woman playing the show's pivotal role. [Previous incumbents of the part include Dean Jones, George Chakiris, Adrian Lester, John Barrowman and Neil Patrick Harris, so there's a lot to live up to.]
Political correctness being such an anathema to us - in particular the way, in the hands of "modern" writers, well-established characters are given a "reboot": a new gender, ethnicity or sexuality [in the world of superhero comics we have recently been "treated" to a female Thor, a black Captain America, a black female Iron Man and a gay Green Lantern, and on telly Dr Who is now a woman] - we didn't bother to rush and get tickets, as we avid Sondheimites would have normally done. Only when my sister stumbled across a £20 ticket offer did we book to see it...
...but, heavens above - we are so glad we did!
In the hands of producer Marianne Elliott, with the apparent blessing of Mr S himself, this new production works brilliantly. Such is its allure, even the giant of Broadway Miss Patti LuPone (who had previously sworn never to do another musical) was inveigled into the supporting cast, alongside the superb Rosalie Craig as the pivot of the show, now called "Bobbie".
We were stunned from the outset by the wonderfully clever moveable, modular sets, all illuminated frames surrounding the almost suffocating domestic spaces of the New York apartment world in which our ensemble circulates - each looking for all the world like an old-fashioned Polaroid within an ever-changing album.
The premise of the whole show - and its title - revolves around relationships (or the lack of them). The show opens with a group of her closest friends huddled into her apartment, preparing to throw Bobbie a surprise party for her 35th birthday. Of course, now she's reached that so-called "milestone" age, this also provides the oddball characters in her circle (all of them variously partnered, married, or on the cusp of being so) with the perfect opportunity to cajole, emotionally blackmail and browbeat the poor cow into joining them in their world of "happily" settled life...
Bobbie...Bobbie...Bobbie baby...
Bobbie bubbi...Bobbie darling...
Bobbie, we've been trying to call you.
Bobbie...Bobbie...Bobbie baby...Bobbie bubbi...
Angel, I've got something to tell you.
Bob...Bobbo...Bobbie love...Bobbie honey...
Bobbie, we've been trying to reach you all day.
Bobbie...Bobbie...Bobbie Baby...Angel...Darling...
The kids were asking-
Bobbie...Bobbie...Bob-o...
Bobbie, there was something we wanted to say.
The line was busy...
Bobbie...Bobbie bubbi...
Bobbie honey...Bobbie sweetie...
...or something. They're a motley crew; each giving our heroine a differing perspective on what it really means to be married - for a start there's Sarah (played by none other than telly favourite comedian Mel Giedroyc) and Harry (Gavin Spokes), who entertain themselves by goading each others' inability to give up their vices (food and booze), then inexplicably launch into a bout of jiu-jitsu in front of Bobbie that may or many not be playful; then there's urbanite Susan (Daisy Maywood) and acrophobic Peter (Ashley Campbell), whose cheery passive-aggressive relationship masks the fact they are actually in the midst of a divorce, yet planning still to live together; and Jenny (Jennifer Saayeng) and David (Richard Henders), she a smart-dressing city slicker, he a lost soul struggling to keep up appearances (as is revealed when the pair and Bobbie get stoned;
in vino veritas, and all that). Hardly much to convince a girl that she's be better off in
that kind of "company".
And then, there's Joanne. A part created by (and for)
the immortal Elaine Stritch, Miss LuPone has played it before, of course. And with
The Little Things You Do Together, we get the first inkling that although Bobbie is the tie that binds the lives of this assembled gang of oddballs together, it is the world-weary Joanne who represents the most appropriate reflection of what her destiny might be:
It's sharing little winks together
Drinks together
Kinks together
That make marriage a joy
The bargains that you shop together
Cigarettes you stop together
Clothing that you swap together
That make perfect relationships...
It's not so hard to be married,
It's much the simplest of crimes.
It's not so hard to be married -
I've done it three or four times!
Indeed.
It's not just the leading lady in this production who has been given a gender swap. The trio of frustrated exes (George Blagden, Richard Fleeshman and Matthew Seadon-Young) who sing
You Could Drive a Person Crazy, "chorus-girl-style", inject an even heavier layer of camp into the number than it already possessed; and the hilarious "one-night-stand-who-won't-go-away" scene
Barcelona is masterfully transformed with the presence of the hunky Mr Fleeshman (
impressively filling his scanties), playing the dumb trolly-dolly role to perfection, and Miss Craig thoroughly enjoying the role-reversal.
Look, you're a very special boy,
Not just overnight.
No, you're a very special boy,
Not because you're bright-
Not *just* because you're bright...
Best of all, however, is the presence of the gay Jewish couple Jamie (Jonathan Bailey) and Paul (Alex Gaumond); the former getting very cold feet indeed about their forthcoming nuptials. We never thought it possible, but Mr Bailey's convincingly maniacal show-stopper
Not Getting Married was one of the very best performances of one of Mr Sondheim's most complicated numbers we've ever seen/heard! [Apart from
the divine Madeline Kahn of course.]
Go! Can't you go?
Why is nobody listening?
Goodbye! Go and cry
At another person's wake
If you're quick, for a kick
You could pick up a christening
But please, on my knees
There's a human life at stake!
Listen everybody, look, I don't know what you're waiting for
A wedding. What's a wedding? It's a prehistoric ritual
Where everybody promises fidelity forever
Which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of
Which is followed by a honeymoon, where suddenly he'll realize
He's saddled with a nut, and want to kill me, which he should
Thanks a bunch, but I'm not getting married
Go have lunch, cause I'm not getting married
You've been grand, but I'm not getting married
Don't just stand there, I'm not getting married
And don't tell Paul, but I'm not getting married today
The denouement of this whole story comes, after a typically bitter-and-twisted evening out with Joanne and her faithful but browbeaten husband Larry (Ben Lewis) - and, of course, Miss Lupone's biggest and best solo number
The Ladies Who Lunch [which she did indeed make her own on this occasion, wisely not choosing to ape
the classic Stritchy version] - with Bobbie, in a reflective mood, back where she began; about to enter that dreaded "surprise party" all over again. This time, however, she does not enter, the assembled couples disperse and, alone at last, she steals the show with the most beautiful and heart-wrenching rendition of that classic twist on a love song,
Being Alive. And she leaves us guessing where exactly she's heading...
Someone to hold you too close
Someone to hurt you too deep
Someone to sit in your chair
And ruin your sleep
And make you aware of being alive
Someone to need you too much
Someone to know you too well
Someone to pull you up short
And put you through hell
And give you support for being alive, being alive
Make me alive, make me confused
Mock me with praise, let me be used
Vary my days, but alone is alone, not alive!
Somebody hold me too close
Somebody force me to care
Somebody make me come through
I'll always be there
As frightened as you of being alive
Being alive, being alive!
Someone you have to let in
Someone whose feelings you spare
Someone who, like it or not
Will want you to share a little, a lot of being alive
Make me alive, make me confused
Mock me with praise, let me be used
Vary my days, but alone is alone, not alive!
Somebody crowd me with love
Somebody force me to care
Somebody make me come through
I'll always be there
Frightened as you to help us survive,
Being alive, being alive, being alive, being alive
Everything about this show is wonderful. The songs (some of Sondheim's finest), Miss Craig and the cast, the choreography, the staging, and, bizarrely -
especially - the inversion of the sexes. We absolutely adored it!
Company has just had its run extended at the Gielgud Theatre until 30 March 2019. You'd be mad to miss it!
