"Company" @ 50

In 1970 the brilliant musical lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim came out with Company on Broadway. After having made a name for himself with this work on shows like Gypsy, West Side Story, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sondheim was considered the greatest Broadway musical talent of his time. 

He was -- as still is.

Company kicked off a hugely prolific period for him -- among his shows were Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), and Sweeney Todd (1979). None of his musicals in either the 1970s or later were derivative of each other, none of them copied something that had worked before. Each of his shows were totally different from the others, completely unique. And his songs were complex -- fast, with a density of lyrics, with a great deal of plot and character development being revealed. They didn't simply emphasize only one point (like "I love you" or "I'm so excited about something coming up" or "I have to go" or "This is the end") -- each song conveys a mess of feeling or events all at once. In a Sondheim song and musical there's a lot going on, and you never get bored.

Back to Company. This show was about a young man named Bobby living in NYC in 1970 (it's probably the only one of Sondheim's shows to be fully contemporary -- and this was 50 years ago). All of Bobby's friends are married and encouraging him to get married too -- but he can't commit. Underlying all this, although never said explicity, is a belief that Bobby might be gay (like Sondheim himself). Sadly, fifty years ago, this couldn't be said or sung out loud.

Company was due for a revival this Spring, with Bobby being played by a woman this time, but obviously COVID-19 derailed it. The original cast, in 1970, included Elaine Stritch and many other great talents. Unusually, there was actually a documentary made about the recording of the cast album by DA Pennebaker. Enjoy this clip from it and pay tribute to a great NYC musical, now half-a-century old.

More recently the parody documentary show Documentary Now did something called "Co-Op: The Musical" that is a direct and loving parody of this show.