Company at Nationaltheater Mannheim

American for beginners: by the time you are 35, you ought to own a decent apartment in one of the trendy districts of the »Big Apple«, have the necessary job to go with it – and be married. No problem for Robert, apart from the last small matter. The fact that all his friends for years have been urging him to follow them into marital bliss is slowly getting on his nerves. When Robert begins to take a closer look at his friends' relationships, he realises that things there are crumbling apart. Behind the brave fronts is hidden frustration, escape into drugs, living lies and even reconsidering one's own sexual orientation. And not to mention the envy of men of the Don Giovanni factor, in which »Bobby« delights right in front of them. Marta, Kathy and April at his current girlfriends and he lets nothing get in his way. So why should he commit himself. But his star is slowly fading: »Bobby is my hobby and I’m giving it up«, is how the three girls sum things up, and Bobby begins to wonder whether something might be missing in his life?…

Company is a wonderfully airy big-city comedy about adulthood, with all its shallowness. The untranslatable title really does turn out to be a key concept for a questionable social feel-good programme, which is also reflected in Stephen Sondheim’s clever fantasy musical score.