Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Company, now on Broadway, is another brilliant conception by John Doyle who takes a great, old, ground-breaking musical to another dimension (as he did with Sweeney Todd last season). The actor/singers are the orchestra, and we can see and hear them as they play. It is fascinating, crazy, delightful as performed on David Gallo's simple (perfect for the conceit of this production) set and Thomas C. Hase's great lighting design.
The cast is remarkable; they are all good musicians, Broadway-level singers, and fine actors who well fulfill the intricacies of their roles. Heather Laws knocked me out as Amy, but all the women are beautiful, and I found their playing of the instruments very sexy. I am a visually oriented person, and I sat there smiling at the innovation and the degree of invention that Doyle has brought to us by staging it as he did. One of my closest long-term theater friends hated the approach. We did agree on one thing though (disputed by other reviewers): leading man Raul Esparza as Bobby, whose married friends think he should get married, is bland and charmless for most of the show, and when he opens up his pipes for his "11: o'clock number," "Being Alive," it is too late for him to endear himself to us.
This Company is not as it was, but as it was is not playing across the street. I had a good time with Sondheim's songs, Furth's jokes and Doyle's staging.
