PAGING ROGER DE BRIS: Stephen Sondheim is revising Company for a possible Broadway production, with some key changes:
The biggest change in this new “Company” would be the central character of Bobby. Whereas he has always been a straight man struggling with commitment issues and multiple girlfriends, he has been reconceived by [Tony Award-winning director John Tiffany (“Once”)] as a gay man with commitment issues and multiple boyfriends. And some characters have had gender reversals; the character of Joanne, who sings “The Ladies Who Lunch” and was originally played by Elaine Stritch on Broadway, is being played by the Tony winner Alan Cumming (“Cabaret”) in Mr. Tiffany’s reading of the work at Roundabout this week.
Several folks have interpreted Company with Bobby as a closeted gay man--honestly, the more complicated and difficult thing in my view is switching the gender of the other couples, particularly since some of those songs would have to be wholly reorchestrated or sharply rewritten to work for men to sing them.
ReplyDeleteSondheim's (vociferous) objection to portraying Bobby as a closeted gay man has always been that it destroys the emotional arc of the show and the ending. If Bobby is gay but still self-closeted, then the show ends as a tragedy rather than a hopeful reaching out for connection.
ReplyDeleteEric - exactly. (I was about to type the same thing, then realized you'd already said it.) However, if Bobby is gay but NOTcloseted - meaning that the three girlfriends become boyfriends and he's not struggling with coming out or accepting himself - than I think the show's themes remain intact, with Bobby still struggling to connect and commit.
ReplyDeleteHow about if Sondheim revises "Company" as a one man show for Alan Cumming? They could stage it in an asylum and he could play all of the parts...oh, wait. Since Cumming's "Macbeth" was basically an excuse for Cumming to play Lady M, I feel like having him play Joanne makes perfect sense. Also, now I want to see him do "Not Get Married Today."
ReplyDeleteI would be on the first plane to anywhere for this.
ReplyDelete