Review: COMPANY at Hollywood Pantages Theatre

Company feels like a relic from a time gone by that only warrants being dragged into the twenty-first century because of its iconic score with some of the best lyrics ever written. (I mean, who since has rhymed anything as witty as “personable” with “matador coercin’ a bull”?) The entire premise reeks of its 1970 premiere— a series of interwoven vignettes which highlight the pressures on a single man in his thirties to get married and show glimpses of an array of different relationships. Marianne Elliott’s staging, the tour of which is currently playing at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, is clean and endlessly inventive with the material. She has reframed Bobby as Bobbie, opening up nuances surrounding expectations on women to get married, and, with subtle shifts to the libretto, has updated the setting to a contemporary New York City.

The production is entirely fused with the bluish glow of the cellphones which tether the characters together and, in many ways, the continued relevance of the themes of the piece shine through. Musings on connections and loneliness seem freshly pertinent as Bobbie flicks through voicemails alone in her tiny apartment. The comedy of each scenario is played up to cartoonish highs and Liam Steel’s sharp choreography punctuates the staging perfectly, making the evening a bonafide musical theatre smash. Elliott has concocted dreamy, surrealist imagery that takes us into Bobbie’s imagination and conveys a more emotional story than realism could muster. With sets and costumes by Bunny Christie, audiences are treated to imaginative visuals that supersede the standard LED screens of modern touring shows.

However, Bobbie’s trio of soliloquies (‘Someone is Waiting’, ‘Marry Me a Little’, and the incomparable ‘Being Alive’) each delivered as a ‘park-and-bark’ address to the audience on a haze-drenched, empty stage, call to attention the shortcomings of dropping a character from 1970 in 2024. I question if the societal expectation to be married by 35 is still a strong enough emotional backbone to invest us in this character’s story. Perhaps it is the cavernous largeness of the Pantages Theatre, perhaps the sitcom approach to the humor, or perhaps something at the core of the material, but the emotional impact of Bobbie’s arch felt lacking for me even though I enjoyed the production.

As a side note, despite reframing Bobbie as a woman, I felt the production (though it included a gay couple) entirely sidestepped the Queer subtext inherent to Company. Sometimes, this felt like a natural progression that fit with the changes to the dialogue, but other times it felt intentionally heteronormative. I don’t believe for a second Bobbie’s sexuality would remain unquestioned in 2024, and some of the gender-bending felt strained to keep the character as purely interested in men. I feel this weighed on me heavily as I recently saw the national tour of Peter Pan, which despite an updated libretto, chose to cast roles which have been gender-bent for over a century entirely along a rigid binary. As we update and reinvestigate these classics of musical theatre, I hope we don’t lose the fact that there is a vital Queer history fossilized in these shows that hold important hints about Queerness in the last century.

With new vocal arrangements by Joel Fram, the score absolutely holds up. ‘You Could Drive a Person Crazy’ is reimagined as a suave trio of charming tenors, played to great comedic effect by David Socolar, Jacob Dickey, and Tyler Hardwick. Matt Rodin, Jhardon DiShon Milton, and Marina Kondo brought the house down with their zany rendition of ‘Getting Married Today’. As Harry, James Earl Jones II broke out of the broad comedy of the preceding scene to lead a tenderly moving ‘Sorry-Grateful’. The only musical misstep of the evening was transposing ‘Have I Got a Guy for You’ to showcase legitimate Broadway belts from the ensemble. The overall effect was jarring and failed to resolve into a cohesive sound.

As Bobbie, Britney Coleman is deeply human, navigating the married lives of those around her like a cautious Alice in an emotional minefield of a Wonderland. Her apparent warmth and earnestness break through the often times schlocky antics of the ensemble cast, rallying the audience to root for her ultimate happiness. Coleman masterfully introduces a pop sensibility to her ballads that, when blended with her legitimate musical theatre soprano tones, makes every note of Sondheim’s score ring agreeably through the rafters. As Joanne, Judy McLane gives an understated performance that could believably land the character on a forthcoming Real Housewives franchise without sacrificing any of the star power intrinsic to the role.

Overall, the tour of Company is a worthwhile ticket for fans of the show which has the power to introduce new fans to the score. While I don’t think it packs the emotional punch to be a truly staying theatrical experience, it is joyful, thoughtful, and thoroughly entertaining.

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