Review: COMPANY at The Paramount Theatre

I’m about to commit a musical theater geek sin, Dear Readers, so get the torches and pitchforks ready.  I don’t care for Stephen Sondheim’s show, “Company”. I appreciate it for what it is, but I think it rambles, and ultimately says not very much at all.  Then along comes the revival of the show with a gender swap element, currently playing at the Paramount.  And this new take did not help my appreciation, in fact it exasperates all the things I find problematic with the show and adds in a slew of new issues.

The show, as it was, is an examination of a man, Bobby, on his 35th birthday.  He bounces from woman to woman with a lack of commitment while all his friends are married with kids and are constantly trying to get him to settle down.  The big differences in this new interpretation are that Bobby is now a woman, Bobbie (Britney Coleman), with the other notable gender swap element that two of her friends about to be married, Paul and Amy, are now a gay couple, Paul and Jamie (Jhardon DiShon Milton and on the night I saw it, understudy Kenneth Quinney Francoeur).  The rest of the story is basically the same.  There have been some book updates to bring this 1970’s show into the 2020’s, mostly just that they all use smart phones. 

And this is problem number one I have with the update.  It’s still the same show, but in attempting to stage it in present day, they only shine a spotlight on how dated the show really is.  Which is only worsened by some very outdated attitudes on Bobbie’s supposed need to get married.  Honestly by the end I wasn’t sure what she wanted or why, and for a show about a character growing, there wasn’t much growth. 

My second issue with the update is their insistence on jamming these new gender roles into the old storyline which caused several moments of confusion.  In a moment of panic Jamie, a gay man, says he’s not going to marry Paul, and so Bobbie says that the two of them should get married.  Huh?  It may work when Bobby is like this with a woman he has always loved, Amy, but a woman’s proposition to your gay best friend is just odd.  Then there’s a moment at the end when Bobbie’s more mature friend Joanne (Judy McLane) tries to arrange Bobbie have an affair with her husband Larry (Derrick Davis) a character that is largely on the periphery of their friendship.  In the original Joanne offers Bobby to have an affair with her which makes some kind of sense, but the setup of “you should have an affair with my husband whom you barely know” was just out of left field.

There are some moments that do work but mostly they are singular songs that I personally appreciate alone.  Francoeur’s rendition of the insane patter song “Getting Married Today” was awesome as were the trio of Bobbie’s boyfriend’s, Andy, Theo, and PJ (Jacob Dickey, David Socolar, and understudy Matthew Christian on my night) with their incredible harmonies on “You Could Drive a Person Crazy”.  Just goes to show that understudies can bring it!  But for the most part the performances and characters felt both completely over the top, like they were in some dated and demented sitcom, with a glacial pace as if that sitcom were on valium.  Resulting in an overly manic, almost 3 hour show from director Marianne Elliott. 

And then there was that set from Bunny Christie.  Basically a series of boxes with limited space to move resulting in a show that just felt claustrophobic with bad sight lines. 

Overall, I found the show had some talent in it but nothing that blew me away.  And as for the twist, they took a show I could find appreciation for and turned it into a confusing show that I couldn’t wait to end.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give this new revived version of “Company” a “was it really necessary?” MEH-.  If you want to revive a show and put a new spin on it, that new spin should benefit the show.  Say something new or fresh.  This did not.

“Company” performs at the Paramount Theatre through July 28th.  For tickets or information visit Seattle Theatre Group online at www.STGPresents.org.

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