Review: COMPANY Comes Alive at University of Utah Theatre Department

Bringing the genre of concept musical to the forefront -- and nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six -- COMPANY is a landmark musical.

And notable as one of the first musicals to mirror Serious Drama productions dealing with Serious Adult Relationships. "Broadway theater has been for many years supported by upper-middle-class people with upper-middle-class problems. These people really want to escape that world when they go to the theater, and then here we are with COMPANY, talking about how we're going to bring it right back in their faces," Composer Stephen Sondheim said at its 1970 opening.

COMPANY is a bold and brilliant show, a wonderful selection for a skilled ensemble of university actors to tackle a stunning, contemporary musical. The University of Utah production has the great bonus of Ryan Emmons as guest director. With Broadway credits that include "Groundhog Day" and "Matilda," along with (the questionable addition of) "Ghost," he fills in for Denny Berry, off in Manila with her side job staging another "Phantom of the Opera."

Emmons has a thorough understanding of the Sondheim masterwork and shows stellar work with the bright and eager students. With Music Director Alex Marshall and Choreographer Ellie Hanagarne, COMPANY is thrilling.

Rarely staged and, as one of my favorite musicals (and difficult to favor among the many Sondheim classics I cherish), I'll see COMPANY any chance I get. It's truly rewarding to see a production so enjoyable for being precisely on-target. The director's skill is reflected in this zippy and rightly amusing staging.

Comic songs truly standout for the witty and charming performers. A highpoint is Caitlin Rae Campbell as Amy with the fast-and-furious "Getting Married Today," which greatly entertains. She is hilarious as a reluctant bride, locating her groom's cufflinks on a dresser near her suicide note (a joke). Maddy Timm is also delightfully daft as the stewardess April in "Barcelona." Micki Martinez slays as a nightclub singer with "Another Hundred People."

In COMPANY, 13 longtime friends -- five couples and three girlfriends -- surround Robby/Robert, darling/Bobby, a 35-year-old man-about-Manhattan who is dating but won't commit though he's lonely and longing to settle down. He's bewildered by the splendors and miseries of marriage, about being "Sorry/Grateful" in a marriage relationship. Derek DuBay is perhaps a bit too bemused by the varied relationships and focus of the characters' attention. Bobby is neither too anguished about being single nor too carefree.

Rather than typically an "I Want" song coming second or third in the lineup of a show's musical numbers, Sondheim places "Being Alive" as the final song. And he's described it as moving from a complaint to a prayer. Being married means "Someone to hold you too close/Someone to hurt you too deep/Someone to sit in your chair/And ruin your sleep." But there's more, Bobby recognizes: "Someone to crowd you with love/Someone to force you to care/Someone to make you come through/Who'll always be there, as frightened as you/Of being alive."

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