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shadowkatJust 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.
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Date: 2013-11-17 05:18 am (UTC)The cast is what got my attention. I knew Martha Plimpton has been doing theater work for years but had no idea she could sing.
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Date: 2013-11-17 05:50 pm (UTC)Colbert - on the other hand - is not a singer. He struggles through Sorry, Grateful. But fortunately is supported by three people who can sing - including Jon Cryer - who is amazingly good in this.
I was very surprised. The only weak link may have been Colbert - but he is a good physical comedian.
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Date: 2013-11-19 06:39 pm (UTC)I also enjoyed the physicality of her and Colbert together (the karate sequence). Each time they go at each other, the physical comedy builds until they reach that "detente" that's still full of tension and is surprisingly sexy. They move together like dancers.
BTW - you described the costumes as '70's or maybe '80's and I can see why the confusion. I'm thinking the '60's - Plimpton's slightly bouffant wig with the headscarf evokes Barbra Streisand to me (who wore very 1960's contemporary make-up and hairstyles in period films like Funny Girl and The Way We Were.) And the smock/tunic is very much Endora from Bewitched but in brighter, more contemporary colors.
And Colbert's turtleneck and trousers are a slightly more rumpled "middle-aged" version of men's fashions that were au courant that decade (think James bond flicks or The Man from U.N.C.L.E) But I can definitely see where the confusion comes in because the look isn't truly "period" but "through the lens of contemporary styles"; the make-up for the women is not that of the '60's and doesn't match the hairstyle in terms of "period" because it's not considered attractive nowadays; the hairstyles and clothes are not consistent (Patti Lupone, for instance). And Harris looks like he always looks, although his suits on HIMYM, for instance, are already very '60's with the slim trousers.
Yeah, period clothing is one of my interests/passions,including the ways that period pieces rarely look completely true to period. Stopping now.
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Date: 2013-11-20 01:24 am (UTC)I also enjoyed the physicality of her and Colbert together (the karate sequence). Each time they go at each other, the physical comedy builds until they reach that "detente" that's still full of tension and is surprisingly sexy. They move together like dancers.
That sequence had me exploding with laughter. It builds beautifully and is quite sexual and sensual at the same time. And Harris' facial expressions convey it.
And, I agree with you about Martha Plimpton - I've loved the actress for a long time. And have watched things just because she was in them. Excellent actress. (I do however occasionally confuse her with Amy Madigan.)
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Date: 2013-11-20 04:22 am (UTC)And as I said "period" movies, theatrical productions and tv shows are rarely true to "period". Hell, look at the depictions of Christ and his disciples, and the roman soldiers of the day, in any European painting.
That sequence had me exploding with laughter. It builds beautifully and is quite sexual and sensual at the same time.
*nods* In the clip I saw it's obvious when it starts that they are barely touching one another and it's (of course) being faked, but something just shifts, I think in the next round and he picks her up off the ground and holds her; it becomes a real challenge but intimate at the same time. You were lucky to have gotten to see it. (You live in NYC?)
Re: Martha Plimpton, she was someone who I admired back when she first became famous and sought out her interviews for the pleasure of reading them because she was so intelligent and self-aware, and not conventionally pretty by any means; she was very "singular" to me. When I checked imdb not long ago though, I realized that I haven't seen as many of her films as I'd thought I did. btw, she's in Rosanna Arquette's doc, "Searching for Debra Winger". Have you seen that one?
I never confused her with Amy Madigan btw, but I use to confuse Amy with Holly Hunter for a short time, although I love them both as well. Having them star together in the movie about Roe v Wade back in the '90's was interesting because they were like the northern/southern version of one another.