Company, Jan 26, 2000

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim book by George Furth

 Melbourne Theatre Company at Playhouse until February 26, 2000

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stephen Sondheim grew up next door to Oscar Hammerstein; any wonder he writes such terrific musicals?

The difference between Sondheim and other major musical theatre writers is that his songs are less recognisable, less hummable, less critically accepted in their time.

He broke the mould of conventional musical by choosing a non-linear narrative. They focus on ideas and emotion rather than romance - which is not to say that Company is not about love.

Sondheim dives into the mind of Bobby, (Peter Cousens) an attractive, single New Yorker who yearns for a marriage which equals those of his coupled friends. We see Bobby on his thirty-fifth birthday when he discovers that his married friends are throwing him a surprise party that night.

Bobby's memories about the couples, and his relationships with them, are the core of the show. The musical, first produced on Broadway in 1970, is based on Playlets, a series of vignettes about relationships written by George Furth.

 Bobby visits friends, all of whom adore him, want him to be happy, to marry, to remain single, to be theirs, (even the men) to be what they can no longer be. No wonder he's confused and commitment-shy.

Cousens is charming and in fine voice as Bobby. The show is directed stylishly by Simon Phillips on a glass-walled design. It is as if we are looking into mirrors: at ourselves, our friends, our own lives.

Sondheim's music is delightfully interpreted by a nine-piece band under musical director Ian McDonald.. Company boasts the haunting song, Being Alive,  sung with bitter-sweetness by Cousens, and the witty and poignant Ladies Who Lunch which is sung with exceptional warmth and anguish by Caroline Gillmer.

You Could Drive a Person Crazy is rendered with colour and pizzazz by Helen Buday, Paula Arundell, and Charmaine Clements playing Bobby's  =three lovers. The tongue-twisting Getting Married Today, sung with hilarious marriage phobia by Christen O'Leary, was a huge hit.

All members of this versatile, vibrant cast, sing as well as they act. Nicki Wendt, Annie Wilson, Rachael Tidd, Gillmer and O'Leary play the wives. Jeremy Stanford, Colin Lane, Robert Grubb, Philip Gould and Gary Down, play the husbands.

Sondheim touches hearts, challenges lives and musical traditions. It is a joy to watch this production.

by Kate Herbert