Company: Part 8

This is part eight of my absolute favorite musical of all time, "Company" by Stephen Sondheim. This is the PBS "Great Performances" recording of the 2006 Revival of "Company" directed by John Doyle, the director of the 2005 Revival of "Sweeney Todd" also by Stephen Sondheim. In both of these revivals there are no musicians, the actors play all of the instruments, very challenging, yet very effective. The star of this production of "Company" is Raul Esparza who plays Bobby, a seemingly happy Manhattan bachelor with a deep hidden sadness. The cast of this production shows extreme strength in the area of ensemble work. This production has one of the best interpretations of the song "Getting Married Today" I have ever heard, Heather Laws does an amazing job with it. The cast is as follows Bobby: Raul Esparza, Joanne: Barbara Walsh, Larry: Bruce Sabath, Amy: Heather Laws, Paul: Robert Cunningham, Sarah: Kristin Huffman, Harry: Keith Butterbaugh, Jenny: Leenya Rideout, David: Fred Rose, Susan: Amy Justman, Peter: Matt Castle, April: Elizabeth Stanley, Marta: Angel Desai, Kathy: Kelly Jeane Grant. This section includes the songs "Mary Me a Little" and "Side by Side by Side". Please note that this section features the transition from act one to act two.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• 2006
• barrymore
• broadway
• comedy
• company
• dating
• ethel
• genius
• life
• marriage
• musical
• play
• revival
• sondheim
• stephen
• theater

[britriv]

Oh, I want the rest!  Aww!

[BillyCowles]

I have the next two parts (9 and 10) and im getting the rest up as fast as possible!

[yonyue]

Thank you so much for these uploads.

[BillyCowles]

sure, this is my favorite musical. I'm trying to get the rest up here!

[embet213]

I'll marry you Raul. One of the most under-rated male Broadway stars out there.

[slapcompany]

Success for Managers means: I want to be in healthy relationships. I want a real connection with people I spend so much time with.

[Exayevie]

@InspectorKaramazov Amen!

[InspectorKaramazov]

@Exayevie And this is what makes Being Alive all the more poignant, because there is such a difference between "all the stings, the ugly thing, we'll keep unsaid" (my favourite line of this song) and "Somebody hold me to close, somebody hurt me to deep".

This is my favourite show ever for soooo many reasons.

[Exayevie]

@InspectorKaramazov you're exactly right. Actually, my favorite line from this song is "You promise whatever you like, I'll never collect." It's a perfect microcosm of the song and indeed the whole show - he sees the relationship as one that would be full of promise and free from disappointments, and successfully makes it sound beautiful. He doesn't even realize that what he's actually saying is it'd be full of EMPTY promises.

[Caligula642]

@InspectorKaramazov I completely agree. I'm happy to see an insightful comment!

[InspectorKaramazov]

I love Marry me a Little. It sounds gorgeous, but the words ring false because a relationship he's describing wouldn't really work out because there would be no honesty. On the surface, it sounds great, but it has a hidden darkness that permates the entire show.

Maybe I'm over thinking this. But I love thesong and he looks gorgeous when he sings it.

[uknowwho889]

@embet213 lets be fair, it's better to be under-rated than over-rated! Raul is good enough to, one day, be huge.

[blithium]

God bless the Irene Diamond Fund!

[Emmamalou]

This is such a good production! I'm a musician, and I've played in orchestras for several musicals, and I can't imagine learning the entire score (especially a Sondheim musical!) off by heart like these amazing actors have!

[RentandWicked]

thank you for this its just absolutely awesome