![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Just finished watching the recent filmed version of the Lincoln Center concert presentation of Company on PBS. And was surprised by it. I've seen a previous version - also on PBS, which had been filmed on Broadway. And it was atrocious. This one is marvelous. Which goes to show you how important direction and casting are in regards to musicals and stage plays.
They cast some phenomenal comedic talent. I didn't know Company was meant to be a comedy, until I saw this version. Where the previous one felt grating and at times offensive, this one was hilarious, touching, and rather comforting.
Here's some of the cast: Neil Patrick Harris (the lead), with Stephen Colbert (who isn't much of a singer - but he doesn't have to do that much singing and also almost unrecognizable) but is great at comedy, Martha Plimpton (who is a great singer and comedian), Patti Lupone (excellent singer), Anika Noni Rose (from The Good Wife, who is a great singer), Jon Cryer (better singer than I thought), Christina Hendricks (from Mad Men), Craig Berko (who was almost unrecognizable).
And the comic timing was pitch perfect. Harris in particular - has a gift of facial reactions, and subtle ones, along with an ability to emote and make you fall half in love with him.
The story is a bit of a riff on marriage, friendship, and relationships. Bobby - a 35 year old single man living in NYC during the 1970s (from the fashion, could also be the 1980s),
is struggling with his married friends - who all think he should be married. They plan surprise birthday parties for him each year and use it as an opportunity to pressure him to be married, since he's clearly not getting any younger. Although it becomes clear over the course of the show that they aren't necessarily any more or less happy or more or less alone than Bobby is. And while they are attempting to get him to become like them, they are simultaneously envying his situation and vice versa. Demonstrating that "Company" is a relative thing.
There are some rather good and famous numbers, but the music over all is forgettable. What makes the show work are the comedic bits. Such as the nervous bride who wants to call off her wedding, while her spouse remains calm and cool. Or the wife who takes karate and her husband who insists she demonstrate it at home in front of Bobby.
The last version focused too much on the music (and there isn't much of it) and did not have the singers to carry off some of the songs - such as the show-stopping numbers: The Ladies who Lunch, Another 100 People, Being Alive, You Could Drive a Person Crazy, or I'm Not Getting Married Today. This version, however, is able to do so. Ana Noki Rose - sings A 100 People Just Got off the Train, while Patti Lupone belts out The Ladies Who Lunch.
If you get a chance to ever rent it - do. It had me laughing aloud through most of it. It's two hours and thirty minutes - so by no means a short musical, with no intermission. I give the actors a lot of credit - if that's how they presented it at Lincoln Center.
They cast some phenomenal comedic talent. I didn't know Company was meant to be a comedy, until I saw this version. Where the previous one felt grating and at times offensive, this one was hilarious, touching, and rather comforting.
Here's some of the cast: Neil Patrick Harris (the lead), with Stephen Colbert (who isn't much of a singer - but he doesn't have to do that much singing and also almost unrecognizable) but is great at comedy, Martha Plimpton (who is a great singer and comedian), Patti Lupone (excellent singer), Anika Noni Rose (from The Good Wife, who is a great singer), Jon Cryer (better singer than I thought), Christina Hendricks (from Mad Men), Craig Berko (who was almost unrecognizable).
And the comic timing was pitch perfect. Harris in particular - has a gift of facial reactions, and subtle ones, along with an ability to emote and make you fall half in love with him.
The story is a bit of a riff on marriage, friendship, and relationships. Bobby - a 35 year old single man living in NYC during the 1970s (from the fashion, could also be the 1980s),
is struggling with his married friends - who all think he should be married. They plan surprise birthday parties for him each year and use it as an opportunity to pressure him to be married, since he's clearly not getting any younger. Although it becomes clear over the course of the show that they aren't necessarily any more or less happy or more or less alone than Bobby is. And while they are attempting to get him to become like them, they are simultaneously envying his situation and vice versa. Demonstrating that "Company" is a relative thing.
There are some rather good and famous numbers, but the music over all is forgettable. What makes the show work are the comedic bits. Such as the nervous bride who wants to call off her wedding, while her spouse remains calm and cool. Or the wife who takes karate and her husband who insists she demonstrate it at home in front of Bobby.
The last version focused too much on the music (and there isn't much of it) and did not have the singers to carry off some of the songs - such as the show-stopping numbers: The Ladies who Lunch, Another 100 People, Being Alive, You Could Drive a Person Crazy, or I'm Not Getting Married Today. This version, however, is able to do so. Ana Noki Rose - sings A 100 People Just Got off the Train, while Patti Lupone belts out The Ladies Who Lunch.
If you get a chance to ever rent it - do. It had me laughing aloud through most of it. It's two hours and thirty minutes - so by no means a short musical, with no intermission. I give the actors a lot of credit - if that's how they presented it at Lincoln Center.