COMPANY Reaction - Ep. 37 of Musicals I Know Nothing About
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- Reacting to Company feels like an identity crisis because you're really happy with company about being sad for being alone...? (what)
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***Copyright Disclaimer: none of the songs in this video belongs to me. This is a non-commercial video for entertainment purposes only.
#company #sondheim #reaction
Who would like a reaction to the most recent Company cast recording? :)
Also the 2006 one is my favourite 😊
yes please. the New version is brilliant
I am all for boh recent revivals. The 2006 is done with the cast playing the instruments. It also drops parts of the dialog into the tracks that help give some of the context that you were asking about in this one.
The most recent London Cast Recording is the Gender Flipped one and that brought some new stuff out of the original text.
Another reason to look at both of these is that they put a cut song back in that is maybe my favorite in the piece, Marry Me a Little
Also, the Broadway 2006 show has a pro-Tape that is worth seeing.
Oh one more thing is there is a famous documentary of the recording of this OBCR. Highly recommend
Yes please because the gender switch changes the dynamic and perspective of the show 😁
The new Broadway version does not have a cast album :-(
Oh Barbara, you gotta watch the Raul Esparza pro-shoot. It’s a production with an unusual staging, but it was that direction that redefined how the show works. You could then watch the more recent Neil Patrick Harris pro shoot, which is more traditional in its staging and has Patti Lupone’s killer version of Ladies who Lunch.
And while we’re on the subject of Ladies who Lunch, the original singer that you praised so much here was Elaine Stritch (RIP), who did a one woman show called Elaine Stritch Live at Liberty telling stories about her life and singing the most famous songs of her career. And you should totally add that show to the list.
Raul is extraordinary.
Raul Esparza is definitely MY Bobby. I watch that recording every time I’m having a bad day!
Oh man, this is my favorite Sondheim show, maybe favorite musical ever. To me, it feels like an epiphany, Bobby realizing that he actually wants to be an active participant in his relationships, whether romantic or not, since during the show you see him just kinda going along whatever his friends want him to do, so by the end he has found the answer of what he wants.
Also, as a massive lover of my friends, I find it sweet that in Someone is Waiting he sees an ideal woman as qualities in his friends, since ideally your friends are people you love and admire deeply
Idk, this show makes me super emotional as a chronically lonely person, and I love it so much.
For context as well, Sondheim wrote this show having never experienced real romantic relationships until very late in his life, so I see this as his own way of coming to terms with that
Yeah I totally get the Someone is Waiting bit and, as I said in the video, understand why he would have his friends as a reference for what he wants from a romantic relationship, but I also think that is a little bit dangerous given they're slightly different dynamics. But it is also sweet given your partner should be your friend first and foremost, I believe
You should react to the musicals "Ride the Cyclone", "Assassins", and "Urinetown". All three are kind of darker comedies.
"Assassins" is actually another Sondheim show and according to him was the one that ended up closest to his vision for it.
"Ride the Cyclone" is about a group of students who die in a Rollercoaster accident and must tell their stories in the afterlife to try to get the others to vote for them as the one who should get to return to life.
"Urinetown" is really kind of a pastiche of lots of Broadway tropes, and is the most straight up comedy of the three. It takes place in a society where you have to pay to pee, and if you don't you'll be taken to a mysterious place called Urinetown as punishment. It's just as absurd as it sounds.
It's very interesting to hear your thoughts on the show's themes! I'll say, however, that COMPANY is very specifically a show about marriage - about, essentially, a single man who's about to turn thirty-five, and his friends, who are all married. The show is about the various aspects of marriage: how difficult it is, the truly hard challenges of it, the things every couple goes through... and ultimately, about how necessary it is to forge a true emotional connection with another human being. That is Bobby's problem: he has so many friends, and no true emotional attachments, because it *terrifies* him. (In fact, the difficulties of making connections with other people was a theme throughout Sondheim's work.) Ultimately, it's a show about how (to paraphrase Sondheim) being with someone is very hard, but being alone is impossible. It's something you can debate, but that's what they were ultimately writing about.
I'd definitely love to see a React to the 2006 production: for one thing, it actually has an extra song at the end of the first act called "Marry Me a Little", which creates a great arc for Bobby - which I won't spoil, except to say that it connects "Someone is Waiting", "Marry Me a Little", and "Being Alive".
There's a documentary that puts the viewer as a fly on the wall while this cast album is being recorded. It was a pilot to a series that never happened that would have had a different cast album featured every week. The way cast albums happened at the time was they had to run through the whole thing on the Sunday or Monday after the premiere, or something arbitrary like that. One long day, in any case. The documentary is a real pressure cooker because everyone's doing this on their day off and some of them are kind of tired what with all the work they've been doing putting the actual show on. Young Sondheim's all over the place coaching performers and doing his thing, which is fun to see. Things comes to a head when Elaine Stritch's song was saved for the end, which made sense since she sang it alone but she had been hanging around singing in all the ensemble numbers all day and by late night she had a lot of trouble getting it out. You never see footage of this sort of performer working in a recording studio, much less having a difficult time with anything. The documentary is a time capsule of these performers at this particular time, which is invaluable if you're a fan of the show.
As for why a series of cast album documentaries never happened, it is not entirely clear. The scuttlebutt was that the filmmakers responsible for the "Company" documentary got a gig in Hollywood and left town, nobody else picked it up and the idea died - no idea what to make of that, but stranger things have happened. I assume agents and lawyers got involved. Bigger stars probably would have wanted editorial control over the films which would have turned them into more commercial type things than the one for "Company" turned out to be and post production would have been a nightmare with high-powered stars having a go at it. I can't imagine anything like Elaine Stritch's travails would have ended up in any of the subsequent documentaries. In any case, we have this one which is awesome. Criterion put out a very nice blu-ray of it a few years ago with commentaries from Sondheim, Stritch, Harold Prince, and the filmmaker of the documentary were included, which is damn' cool.
I love this one, the active criticism of marriage and romance, the pedestal we hold it on as society. The ending being ambiguous - some people see it as Bobbie deciding to try for romance, others see it as him giving up completely but feeling broken about it
I second those who are saying to go for a pro-shoot. I am more familiar with the NPH. Also the NPH has Patti Lupone, another wonderful woman of Sondheim musicals (up there with Bernadette Peters).
Another Sondheim to check out is Passion. There is the original cast but I really love the concert version with Patti Lupone, Audra Mcdonald and Michael Cerveris.
"Can we please normalize being single?" YASSS my ACE (grey)ARO heart is sooo happy single with even three friends and that's it.
And clearly from all the drama and movies I'm not missing out on much LOL
Company is my current Sondheim favorite as its the very last show that Sondheim watched before passing away. He saw an off- broadway revival of Assassins the day before. One thing i got to say about Sondheim is that he is not strict in regard to any of his works and he believes that his work should evolve with the times, not like a museum piece. In the case of Company, you should watch the new productions after seeing the original piece, the Raul Espraza production, the NPH version in the Lincoln Center, and finally these new Marianna Elliott directed productions with a female Bobbie. You can see the change of subtext with each production, especiallly with the NPH and the newest ones. In Ladies who Lunch, Joanne, played by our Lord and Savior Patti Lupone and never does the same performance twice, is both the judge and the judgee. In the newer shows, she not only judges herself but Bobbie who she calls out as one of those ladies who lunch. When you see that, after seeing all those older productions, you are left in awe by this change and know why this works.
When you decide to do ASSASSINS, go with the 2004 Broadway recording: not only was it generally felt to be a *fantastic* production, it also helped make the show's reputation, and it contains the extra song, "Something Just Broke", that was put in during the 90's.
100000000%
The original album is gorgeous though. I wouldn't be without either.
Dean Jones, who originated the role of Bobby, got divorced just before rehearsals started for the original production. I really think that the emotional force of this recording shows in his performance.
That said, Bobby is such a versatile role. I've seen him played gay, in love with one or more of his female friends, as asexual, and of course, now the show has been reimagined with Bobbi as a woman. It's part of why I love this show. Whoever you are, you can identify with Bobby.
If you can find it, the documentary covering the creation of this soundtrack is OUTSTANDING (it's on Criterion Channel if you have it). Watching Elaine Stritch record Ladies Who Lunch is ICONIC (and I'm pretty sure you can find that segment on UA-cam). I've loved just about every production of Company I've ever seen, and there are a LOT of really good Pro-Shots (including one with Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby and Stephen Colbert in the supporting cast).
I'm definitely looking that up, thank you!
@@Barbara2.0 and there's a pro shot with Raul Esparza as Bobby! just iconic
There’s also an absolutely hilarious episode of Documentary Now! sending up that documentary. John Mulaney as notSondheim is fantastic.
@@margaridatorres1273 I haven't seen the most recent one but Raul will always be my Bobby.
Original Cast Recording: Company is available on HBO Max!
I have a personal bias towards the 2006 pro-shot, i mean Raul Esparza simply SHINES as bobby and i would love to see your reaction to that amazing performance
Please! You HAVE to watch the Raul Esparza Pro-Shot!!! He has the best interpretation of the character ever!
My favourite 😍 Neil Patrick Harris pro shot is the best one in my opinion because it really needs to be set in the 70s for the plot to really work fully
I like to think that this entire musical takes place in Bobby’s mind and these are all his insecurities personifying themselves as his friends. It’s makes sense once you see it live because it all plays like a stream of consciousness. Every scene is vignette.
Ooooohh I like that
There’s a few version of this play you should watch/listen:
1. The 1996 Donmar Warehouse, directed by Sam Mendes. Quite possibly the first major production that uses the revised script (Sondheim and Furth updated the script & songs back in the 90s to reflect on the modern times). They also added “Marry Me a Little” in this one, which now became a staple to every new production
2. The 2006 version with Raul Esparza. A super unique take on Company where the cast also serves as the orchestra, creating a minimalistic version of the songs while also highlighting Bobby’s evolution throughout the play with musical instrumenta
3. The 2011 all-star NY Philharmonic version. The first Company I watched, starring NPH as Bobby, and also this is Patti Lupone’s first time playing Joanne. The orchestra is extremely grand and incredibly perfect for Company
4. The 2018 version directed by Marianne Heller. This was Sondheim’s final job, working with Heller to revise the script once more. The gender bended Bobby/Bobbie and Amy/Jamie is something to look for
5. The 2022 Spanish version with Antonio Banderas. If you listened to Company long enough, you’d understand everything without even knowing Spanish at all. In this version, Banderas’ Bobby is far older and the entire play is a look back on his youth
Two more things you could watch: The making of this soundtrack, the original 1970 cast recording one. It’s a treasured and acclaimed documentary directed by D.A. Pennebaker, and Elaine Stritch’s struggle recording the perfect Ladies Who Lunch at 1AM is a peak of the musical documentary genre.
After that, watch the Documentary Now! Parody episode just for a little fun.
Ah, I've been waiting for your take on this.
This is one of my favourite shows. As a content single guy just entering his 30s I find Bobby super relateable (for good and for bad), from the slight awkwardnes of being the "third" to all couple friends but enjoying great relationships with all of them, to the ingrained romantic relationship expectations that everyone seems to have for you and try to force upon you, to just trying to examine and come to terms with your own expectations and wants and how to move towards becoming happy in yourself rather than define yourself by a partner (which isn't explicitly the point of the show, but is what i wishfully like to take from it).
Plus everything just seems so real with all the relationships and characters - listening to any of the couples sing I can picture couples that it could be written about (or at least aspects of them).
Highly recommend the 2006 Raúl Esparza version if you want a video recording, but you really can't go wrong with any that are available. Also Mandy Patinkin has done several of the songs across live performances and albums, as always his voice just hits different.
I haven't seen much of the two most recent revivals with gender-swapped Bobby - just what promo videos they put out, so I'm not sure if they make any other changes. But would love to hear your opinions if/when you hear it.
I think a lot of your questions would be answered by watching the play. I would highly recommend the Raul Esparza version. I love this musical so much. Thank you for reacting to it.
I’m so used to hearing Patti LuPone as Joanne, her voice is just so unique! You should definitely react to the new London cast’s recording!
Noted!
During "The Little Things You Do Together" Sarah is showing off her karate skills using her husband Harry as her partner, and ultimately they wind up just very competitively wrestling each other. "Uncle" is older slang meaning "give up." I don't think it's used as much lately, but Sarah is asking Harry if he gives up the fight, and he responds no, "Uncle your ass." Definitely seeing a production will help because a lot of these songs exist outside the action commenting on it. Joanne isn't actually there when she sings "Little Things" about the scene. The girlfriends aren't really there when they sing "Drive a Person Crazy" commenting on what Bobby had been saying in the scene.
That's such great info, thank you!
Merrily We Roll Along by Sondheim is my second fave so I recommend that next :] the story happens in reverse!
Really love your remarks too--they are very insightful, but they're just the beginning of the journey, and there's just so much to explore! So because people have said much in the comments already, and because it will never be enough to encapsulate the full brilliance of this show, I'll just bring up one point: I love when you said that Being Alive is like a prayer--You might have noticed there is a slight key change at the middle of the song ("Blow out the candles, Bobby. Want something."), and from that point on Bobby went from "Someone to hold me too close" to "Somebody hold me to close." This is the biggest shift in his character yet--he starts to take an active role in his life, and actually yearn for something (at the beginning of the show, when they asked him to make his birthday wish, he said he actually didn't wish for anything--he was happy and content with his friends. And now he is realizing that it is not enough being the "company"). It is such a significant shift, but it is done so subtly--a half step up, and the subtle change of a word! What Sondheim does so well is that, he can show off all sorts of witty lyrics and crazy rhymes, but when he needs to, he can also write so closely to a character's beating heart it aches. And human emotion is not often loud and bombastic, as you would see in most musicals; it is more often quiet and subdued, so subtle that the person themselves might not even realize it. And this is what's so great about this song--it's a character working through his epiphany rather than performing/expressing it.
This is beautiful. Thank you for leaving this comment, I love it! And you're totally right, these reactions are always just the start of the journey ♥️
I love company so much! I’m so excited for the video! I’d totally recommend the pro-shot of Anything Goes that just came out with Sutton Foster. It’s really fantastic!
You can also watch the 2011 production with Neil Patrick Harris and Patti Lupone on UA-cam, if that sounds interesting.
I was not sure about the premise but someone I trust said we should see the revival and I enjoyed it so much.
I guess one of the drivers to turn Bobby into Bobbie was the realization women still face that pressure more than men do. At least in the revival, her final act is to just celebrate by herself, leaving everyone pressuring her on the other side of the door.
(Also, felt like I should mention that Britney Coleman is part of the revival cast)
Yeah now I'm regretting missing it when it was running here so so much
A show you should definitely react to is Ragtime. It's set in the early 1900s and explores race and class in America, it also includes some famous historical figures. It won a bunch of Tony's and its really fantastic!
I would love a reaction to Ragtime! It was my favorite musical for a long time.
Yes! Ragtime is a masterpiece, one of my all time favorite musicals.
That woman you love is the late, great Elaine Stitch. If you love her you'll REALLY want to look into the ProShot of her one woman show, Elaine Stitch: At Liberty. It's basically her life story in a cabaret style and it's absolutely fantastic AND won her her only Tony award.
If you haven't seen the musical a gentleman's guide to love and murder you definitely need to check it out.
31:04 Yep, the original was _Happily Ever After._ I sang it once in a Sodnheim concert after recently becoming divorced. So cathartic!
Seeing the play with Neil Pattrick Harris is great and the songs flow so great with visually seeing the actors faces
For the songs' context, just read the synopsis printed inside the CD case. It will clear a lot of things up for you. It is a lot of fun watching you engage with and love the art at hand. Thanks!
Splash into a pool of Sondheim lyrics? Here, jump in the deep end: ua-cam.com/video/A92wZIvEUAw/v-deo.html
Ugh love company so much. Assassins is a close second
This show was radical when it was released because it was about the audience, the Yuppies who went to see Broadway shows, the lower wealthy/upper middle class people in messy relationships. It used a much more contemporary style of music too with the bossa nova sound. Broadway at the time was pretty old fashioned, standard Broadway sounding shows about other times and other places. And this show skeward and satirized it's audience. Also, it doesn't really have a plot. It's just a string of vignettes. It really put Sondheim on the map.
The long note on “I Loooooooooove You” was done for the original show because the director needed a long stage cross and it is just part of the score.
It’s actually a result of scenic design. There was an elevator and they needed to cover the time it took to descend to stage level. So, sort of like a stage cross.
I've listened to this album all of my life and I can't believe they let that note go at 3:50....one of the males is seriously a half note off and it just continues!!! Interesting sidenote - Dean Jones(of Disney's herbie the love bug fame) had a breakdown during the run of the show as he was going through a nasty divorce and had to be replaced by larry kert of west side story fame.
Please please Please watch the '06 Raul Esparza production! I don't even care if you film a reaction. I just want you to experience the show!
for more context and tons more fun I highly recommend the video of Sylvia Fine Kaye's 1979 special Musical Comedy Tonight, where she discusses 4 major phases of musical comedy theater and introduces excerpts of the shows performed by some weird and wonderful casts. I love her take on the post- Vietnam cynicism of Company and the effect this show had on musical theater going forward.
your channel is a delight and I am awed by how much you can intuit from the album without seeing or reading about the show! thanks for what you do.
Thank YOU for being part of the channel ♥️
The new production changes a lot! (This is just from what I’ve heard, I haven’t seen it myself):
Bobby->Bobbie,
Amy->Jamie (the Paul-Amy couple becomes a gay couple),
The three girlfriends become three boyfriends, but I don’t remember their names,
Someone is waiting changes all of the names of the female friends to the male friends,
And finally, they swap many of the roles in the story from the wife to the husband and vice versa.
Hope this helps!
Ok so it's mainly just adapting to the fact Bobby is a straight woman now. Thanks, Josh!
Of course! I believe a lot of the book is also updated to be more modern and it had more of a feminine message.
The book is definitely updated. I’ve seen the current Broadway revival with Patti Lupone and Katrina Lenk twice now. Personally, I think this new revival making Bobby a cis female is better. In today’s standards it feels more relevant for Bobby’s friends to be pressuring her to be settled down/married. Company is my favorite Sondheim musical (outside of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - which there is a pro shot of from the London Miener Chocolate Factory production).
Also the original cut the original Act 1 finale called “Marry me A Little” but has been put in for all productions since. Also, the show does end with “Being Alive.” I think they did a reprise of “Company” only on the original album.
What you miss not seeing the show is that bride grabs the umbrella and runs out and goes to the wedding and does get married. She has to take care of Paul.
Company is definitely a brilliant musical about the concept of marriage, with the thesis, I believe, is best explained in Sorry-Grateful. There is also an amazing deleted song called Marry me a little
Seeing Being Alive done is important. Some get it and some don’t. It is really key to affect the transition in the character mid song as he begins to realize and changes his approach to life/relationships.
As a 39 year old singleton who’s gone by Bobby/Bob/Robert at various points in my life, I both relate to a lot of this and get mildly annoyed by the excessive repetition of “Bobby, etc."
Also, I went through a phase where I listened to "Another Hundred People" over and over - I find myself loving this particular orchestration of the song so much, so I’m glad you listened to the original even if parts of it are pretty dated. You are such a perceptive critic/appreciator of Sondheim and I look forward to more reactions!
Thank you, 'Bobby' ;) Happy you enjoyed the video!
Barbara I am BEGGING YOU for a ride the cyclone reaction it's been literally all I've listened to for weeks
Been getting quite a few requests for that one lately... Curiosity grows. It will come, my friend ;)
30:02 omg you have to go watch Anna Kendrick performing this song in the movie “Camp” - the entire audience stood and it’s great!!
Love Anna Kendrick, will look for it, thanks! ;)
You should definitely react to the 1982 pro shot of Sweeney Todd with Angela Lunsbury
So, this is the show that lays out the perfect path and doesn’t reach the destination. While the last thing we needed was a romantic comedy, Bobby does not deserve the final song. If he had gotten together with the one woman who he actually realized he loved, the final song would have made sense. Instead, there is no evidence of his learning anything, and then he’s handed an epiphany for nothing. It’s an extraordinary show, but they didn’t know how to land it. Watch the wonderful Raul Esparza version, which is available on video and maybe on UA-cam, as well as the terrific in-concert version starring Neil Patrick Harris.
Elaine Stritch is a classic. I prefer her to Patti Lupone but both women are gorgeous at the Ladies who Lunch. The character is represented throughout season 2 of Schmigadoon.
You should REALLY watch the documentary about the original Broadway cast recording sessions. It's just called Original Cast Album: Company. It's got loads of interviews with the original cast, Sondheim, and the record producer during the recording. It's a landmark documentary film!
i so hope you react to the 2006 production of this show, it’s incredible!
Definitely watch the 2006 revival with Raul Esparza. It is simply sublime!
I tried checking the comments for the name of the instrument because I couldn't tell which sound you were talking about
I thought saxophone, but... probably not?
Ladies who lunch, the talent is Elaine Stritch
Love this musical! If you haven’t seen the movie Camp, please enjoy baby Anna Kendrick rocking “ladies who lunch”
ua-cam.com/video/W8y9pNqjtb0/v-deo.html
I’m looking forward to your reaction to Assassins. In the song Barcelona, Bobby and an air hostess have spent the night together They wake up and Marta tells him that she has to get to work This time it’s a flight to Barcelona.
While the obvious and main theme of Company is marriage its alter ego is New York City. It hums just below the surface of the show. Granted, it's a 1960s vibe but it's there loud and clear. Truly a promethean masterpiece.
"Can we please just be happy with people being single?" THIS is why the 2018 Revival with a female Bobbie is my FAVOURITE. It takes the actual script and, with almost NO changes whatsoever, elevates it to another level. One where, at the end of it, Bobbie is recognising her own desires and claiming them over the pressure other people are putting on her. It's I N C R E D I B L E
I really want to watch that somehow. Was absolutely gutted for missing it when it was in the West End
@@Barbara2.0 Your best bet is watching one of the proshots of the other versions (I prefer the NPH one myself) and then having a listen to the soundtrack while reading the book. You can actually buy a copy of the book/script that they used for that production (I have one, it has Rosalie's face on it) and that's the closest you can get. Absolutely heartbreaking that it was only here in London for 6 months though 😭
oh, this is the album that doesn't have Marry me a Little, right?
Yeah.... sadly. Such a pity, because Marry Me a Little has now become such a pivotal moment in Bobby's character
Love your videos! You should do Pippin!
Great series! Watch A little night music! That would be awesome.
Hey you should watch 'portal 2 the musical', it's based off of a game called 'portal 2' if you ever heard of it, and even if you don't watch it I highly suggest watching/playing the two portal games if you haven't.
maybe a muted trumpet or trombone?
David J Bradley did a really good video about this show, and how it can essentially be considered a critique of "straight time". The implication being that Bobby may be LGBT (perhaps gay, perhaps asexual, or maybe just hasn't figured himself out yet), but he is crushed under the cultural pressure to conform to heterosexual milestones like getting married, settling down, having kids, etc., even though he isn't actually sure if that's what he wants with his life. Being Alive is kind of a tragic song because it's him basically caving to the pressure after being systematically brainwashed by his friends into wanting marriage for the sake of not being alone, rather than because he actually wants to be committed to someone in that way. "Alone is alone, not alive", and "you have to want to marry somebody, not just some body" are the two most direct statements made in this show - also "what do you get?" Bobby doesn't want marriage, and isn't convinced it would get him anything he wants, EXCEPT the fact that he wants the pressure of doing it to be off his shoulders. He isn't treated as a full human being as a bachelor, and he wants it to be over with. In some productions, he actually ends his life at the end, because he still hasn't found a reason to marry someone but knows he will never be free from the pressure to do so. So the show is to some degree a romanticization AND a criticism of the concept of marriage, but more so it's a criticism of the way that society insists that having that kind of relationship is just someone that MUST occur in the course of a person's life. There's a tremendous amount of irony packed into it. Joanne has been married and divorced unhappily several times; one of the other couples actually gets divorced during the course of the show, yet stay together despite it. All his friends tell him simultaneously how horrible being married is, but also how it doesn't change anything, but also how it's the most important thing in the world. None give him a clear answer as to why he should get married, but expect him to do it nonetheless, even while also telling him he isn't "ready" and worrying about how "alone" he is. The entire show is a series of socio-romantic paradoxes that never fully resolve. Which, considering it was written in the 1970s by gay men who never married, is quite telling.
Wait, Sondheim was gay?
@@QuikVidGuy Sondheim was gay and he had a husband
Sondheim and the book writer were asked about this and both stated that while they made Bobby to be relatable to anyone. He is completely straight and they never intended him to be anything else. Which is why multiple lyrics in the musical go out of their way to exclude that as a possibility. There are plenty of fantastic interpretations and those have different views on Bobby, but Sondheim always fought the insinuation that Bobby was written as a closeted gay man.
@@dmstewart66 Sondheim always had a habit of denying the "political" subtext in his work - idk if that was him being hardcore in the closet for so long, or just genuinely oblivious, but his perceptions and/or claims about his own shows have always been weird and backwards, lol. He claimed Bobby isn't queer - despite the dialogue literally referring to him as "a Krafft-Ebing case history". He claimed Sweeney Todd isn't Brechtian - even though it has every single hallmark of Brecht and everyone, including Hal Prince, has recognized this since day one. Sondheim's denial of this subtext (or hell, sometimes text) is strange, but then, given the way he wrote and how hyperfixated he could get on the details, it seems like sometimes he legitimately just missed the bigger picture, lmao
@@ferenczliszt It really just sounds like you're making a bunch of assumptions about his art and then even going so far as to assume you know better than the artist himself. You accuse him of being "hard core in the closet" but he was out and proud since his late teens to all his friends, long before writing Company.... He didn't make it fully public until he turned 40ish but he was out to everyone who knew him. So he was not hiding. He lived his truth. Also he fought the accusation that Bobby was gay into his 80s so why would he fight that 40 years after publicly coming out unless he actually felt that way. Here's a crazy thought, maybe Sondheim actually understood his work just fine and other people just feel the need to force their own subtext onto his works.
He didn't ever shy away from the political indications in Assassins or The Frogs, or Into The Woods, so I really feel like your theory is clutching at straws here...
Whenever someone claims they know more about the art than the artist actually making it, they're pretty much always wrong.
Please do parade, it’s sad, but it’s so good and underrated
I thought you might like this documentary about the trip to Broadway Lin Manuel Miranda's first musicals move to Broadway. Miranda's was one of the dozens of composers that Sondheim mentored. Sondheim's surrogate father was Oscar Hammerstein. Sondheim paid it forward. Lin has decided to cut back on work to also mentor new artists. You will recognize a lot of the cast if you saw Disney Plus's video if Hamilton. Younger and more innocent. A few are in Tick Tick Boom. Many are in various companies of Hamilton. But they are all such decent people and the story is good. ua-cam.com/video/XxwhLXrPp2s/v-deo.html
Thank you so much! :)
Yes NORMALIZE SINGLEHOOOD!
I think another layer to unpack to this show is that Sondheim was a young single closeted gay man when he wrote this. He wasn’t “Sondheim” yet fame wise he was still trying to find his place and I am sure the pressure to conform to 1960s heteronormative society was as powerful an annoyance as the pressure to conform his music structure to the formulas all around him (see merrily we roll along for that theme).
So I think there is a lot to say about this piece made by a young man but the conversations are not as surface as they may have been intended to land.
Bobby is a 35 year old man child who can’t form meaningful connections/relationships with his friends or women. He’s paralyzed with fear and his friends are just trying to move him in to action.
This show makes a lot more sense if you watch it. I would recommend you watch the Neil Patrick Harris version. It's an easy one to understand.
The play begins with a surprise birthday party for Robert. SPOILER ALERT: The play ends with that surprise party, but Robert doesn't show up. It doesn't end as it began. 😃
The gender swapped version actually worked really well and felt more like it fit in the 2020s when I saw it on Broadway a couple of years ago.
Several of the other characters are also gender swapped, including substituting men for the main character's romantic partners and instead of "Getting Married Today" being sung by Amy it is sung by Jamie, played by a man who is preparing to marry (or not) his male lover. The Broadway version ended up winning several Tony Awards, including for Best Musical Revival, Best Director, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Patti LuPone), and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Matt Doyle).
most bergman esque of sondheim.
You should react to goosebumps the musical.
please i beg of you. the 2006 revival. just for Raul alone just please
Please react to Sondheim musical merrily we roll along
1:12 🤮🤮