Review: COMPANY at Stadteatern

The musical Company by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth is the musical that has received the most Tony Awards. Company is about Bobbie, who in this set is a woman and not a man as in the original set, and is played by Frida Modén Treichel. Bobbie is single and turning 35 and all her couple friends are gathering to celebrate her. The women try to pair her up with different men while the men in the couples are more critical of the guys she dates. In a way, it is convenient for them to have a female single in their circle of friends. But how are the couples really doing? As a single person, I can relate somewhat to Bobbie and how it is with certain couple friends you have. It's an interesting take on typical couple relationships. Sparks don't fly between Bobbie and the guys she dates, but you can't help but be charmed by Andy (Olof Åhman), who himself thinks he's uninteresting and not that smart. Each line is delivered perfectly often with a comedic tone. Andy and the two other guys she's dating, Theo (Glenn Edell) and PJ (David Alvefjord) perform a charming song about Bobbie with the odd but slightly comic effect of doing it haffway down a stage hole.

I haven't seen any other set of Company so I can't say if it will be more interesting or not with a female Bobbie, but understand the concept that it might feel more modern. However, the attitude that you have to be married/or in a couple to be happy is a bit outdated. Overall, it's an easygoing story about Bobbie and her friends that attracts a surprising amount of laughs.

Sondheim is one of the great musical composers, but his music is not always completely accessible either to the audience or to the artists who will perform it. The music in Company is no exception to that. Some songs contain an incredible amount of text and Robert Fux, who plays Jamie, who is about to marry Paul, and gets cold feet, makes a big impression when he sings about not wanting to get married, lots of text at a high tempo. Likewise, Helen Sjöholm is formidable as Joanne, Bobbie's slightly older rich friend, married for the fourth time. The longest applause of the evening goes to Helen when Joanne in a drunken state sings about ladies having lunch - the song and comedy in combination is spot on.

In many ways, this is an ensemble set. The friends are very present in Bobbie's life and one of the show's highlights comes at the beginning of the second act when, in the middle of New York, people suddenly celebrate Swedish holidays in a frenzy, from Midsummer to New Year. There, the entire fantastic ensemble gets to show off what they're up to in a classic large-scale musical number - totally to my taste. Bobbie, finally realizes that she can't just live her life with her married couples but she has to make a choice and live. If it's one of the songs you've heard from Company, it's probably Being Alive, a typical power musical song performed full of emotion and power.

Really good scenography that moves the plot to different locations in a simple, stylish way. The choreography is a bit special and sometimes a bit angular in the movements, but really brilliant sometimes like when Bobbie visits her friends Harry (Rennie Mirro) and Sarah (Sara Jangfeldt) and Sarah has to show her jujutsu skills with Harry as a sparring partner. It's a great number– especially when they move in slow-motion.

Stadsteatern's production of Company is performed by a really well-coordinated ensemble with many well-known musical artists who really deliver. This version is  entertaining and a lot more fun than I expected, but as a musical, Company won't make my top 10 list of musicals. It is still absolutely worth seeing. Company is not staged very often in Sweden and if you want to add one of the big musicals to your "musicals-I've-seen-list", this is the time to do it.

Company plays until November 17.

Photo credits Sören Vilks (Company, premiär 30 augusti 2024 Stora Scenen. Joel Mauricio Almroth, Frida Modén Treichel and Robert Fux)

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