Company: A Musical Comedy
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.24 You Save: $15.74 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.95 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Company: A Musical Comedy
Movie Review: A beautiful production, get it for Raul Esparza
Summary: 5 Stars
Company is one of my favorite Sondheim shows so far (the others being Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George). It's a show that requires good acting and showcases outstanding acting. The ensemble numbers are beautiful. The Original Broadway Cast recording sounds very 1970s-ish, but the revival orchestration has updated the music to sound modern and classy. The musical has three of my favorite songs: "Being Alive," "The Ladies Who Lunch," and "Getting Married Today." The show is funny and witty, but it carries a strong message, too. Marriage, in fact any kind of commitment, is a compromise. It sucks that when we choose one path, we close many others, but that's what life is about. Life is about making choices. There's nothing wrong with Bobby being a bachelor. The problem is that it's all he knows. He's never tried anything else. He's never made a choice; he's always waiting to see what other people do. Joanne's stinging number "The Ladies Who Lunch" reminds Bobby (and the audience) that you can sit around wasting your life pretending you're actually living it. Delusion is insidious. There are so many ways to waste time, whether it's going to fittings, taking in high art like Mahler symphonies and Pinter plays, mocking other people, surfing the internet (wait, that's not in the musical...)
I loved Raul Esparza as Bobby. He played a very calm, sweet guy who gradually becomes more and more distraught about being as an outsider. His rendition of "Being Alive" is amazing, beyond words. The supporting cast is directed to be that -- "supporting" so if you're looking for an Elaine Strich-like "Ladies", get the OBC recording. I like this choice, because it makes Bobby the focal point, as it should be.
This revival is in the controversial John Doyle actor-doubling-as-musician style. The fact that the instruments were onstage gave the musical a cabaret feel. The cabaret feel was enhanced by the simple, black costumes and mostly bare set. Marriage and relationships are an intimate topic and the intimate setting works wonderfuly. The piano was used very effectively. I liked seeing Marta sing while sitting on top of the piano. I liked watching Bobby clumsily climb on top of the piano (emphasizing that he's still a boyish voyeur). I liked how the actor stopped playing the piano and closed the keyboard case just as Barbara Walsh was finishing "The Ladies Who Lunch." There were some instances where the actors-playing-instruments concept didn't work, but for the most part, I enjoyed it and the great camera direction by Lonny Price made the actor movement not too distracting.
Movie Review: It Doesn't Get Better
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're looking for one word: genius.
If you're looking for a few more, however....
This is perhaps Stephen Sondheim's greatest work. Arguable, but certainly a matter of opinion. His lyrics are incomparable, and the tone of the music is conversational - perfectly suited to George Furth's casual-style book. The emotional release in Being Alive sends a timeless message, not only in context of the show, but outside it as well. Any composer or lyricist who can make a song apply so perfectly both inside and outside of a show is, without doubt, genius.
Now - the direction. Everyone has their opinion on John Doyle's actors doubling as musicians. In Sweeney I found it to be distasteful. Instead of that, however, it simply suits this style of show. It's all a concept show, and it all takes place in Robert's head. Robert's singing songs about marriage in his head, why would it be inconceivable for him to imagine his friends playing instruments in accompaniment to his musings? Not only does it make sense, it just works. The staging could almost not be better. The acting and singing is fantastic. I could ask for a little more as far as instrumentals - meaning better - but I won't.
The entire show, you feel the build. You feel this build in tension, and then you get a complete release of it all in Being Alive. Having just watched Passion, that is something you don't get from that show. Company is a complete release, a definite end to the story being told. But at the same time, the story does not end. Sondheim and Furth supply closure without closing. This is enhanced particularly by John Doyle's cut of the finale.
Lastly, Raul Esparza. No more words need to be said, but I'll say them anyway. His interpretation of Bobby is sublime. Unreal. The motif of the entire play is the theme of the opening number, and Raul captures that chaos in his acting. You can see that Bobby is in constant thought, and it puts you into his shoes - you start to see what he sees, in order to grasp what he might be thinking about. The way he is able to contain his voice in "Someone is Waiting" is perfect. There could not have been a better actor found, I think, to play Bobby in this revival.
Overall - near perfection on stage. The staging of Being Alive is the embodiment of theatre. I say it every time I watch it. I'm more and more captivated each time.
Movie Review: Stupendous. Watching it makes you "Sorry-Grateful."
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was younger I saw this show and shrugged it off as a fun but two-dimensional spoof of marital relations. Now that I am the age of the characters and a bit more seasoned in the ways of the world, however, I see things differnetly. This show is an emotional knock-out. Company is a gentle whirlwind of humor, desperation, hurt, love and alienation, delivered through great songs and quirky performances. The production and the material are amazing, wringing out thoughts and fears that I was not even aware were simmering below the surface.
Raul Esparza has a Bob Newhart-type delivery that works well in playing Bobby, and the character is all too familiar to anyone who has been the lonely but loved buddy-brother-father confessor to an extended group of friends. The other actors are equally good. While I don't have all of their names handy, I offer extensive applause to the women who played Amy, Marta, and JoAnn. I also applaud Bruce Sabbath, who plays Larry with a sense of kindness and patience even though he knows he is underappreciated and mistreated by his wife.
The staging and costuming evoke an upscale, Bobby Short-type piano lounge, communicating simultaneously a sense of Upper East Side glamour and urban world worriness. Given the setting and millieu of the show,this visual effect is brilliant.
I saw the version of Sweeney Todd that had the cast accompanying themselves on musical instruments. In that production, the approach seemed to be a pointless gimmick. In Company, however, the approach works. The cast members are a "company," in a musical, acting and social sense.
Watching this production will hurt a little but will also be rewarding.
Movie Review: Bobby Baby, Bobby Bubbe, Bobby...
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always thought that Company was one of Sondheim's more intellectual musicals, where among the rest of the plays dealing with the complexities of marriage, it seems to capture the most distilled sense of what it means to be married. This being said, i never thought it would go beyond a cursory look of how dysfunctional marriages tend to be. The original production explored this issue with a fair amount of restraint, but this new production got so raw, you tend to forget that they're actors onstage. This production touched a nerve, to the point i internally debated turning it off for a while. I think that's what's interesting about the way this was done; beyond the actor/musician thing, and the multiple vantage points, everything seemed to be so REAL. As much as i am tempted to shower Raul Esparza with praises (which he obviously deserves), this is more the ensemble's triumph.
See this show, and be prepared to ask a lot of questions regarding your own relationships after.
Movie Review: Broadway comes of age!
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, FINALLY!! An actual "Broadway" type performance captured on the modern entertainment medium of DVD!!
This is really not only a breakthrough in home entertainment but without doubt, the finest performance of a Stephen Sondheim classic it has ever been my pleasure to watch! It ranks with "Into the Woods" as a masterpiece in production values. Now, perhaps, Broadway will wake up to the fact that there are a vast number of us out here who can't ever hope to see an actual original performance of a show but who would be absolutely beside themselves to obtain these shows on DVD and applaud them in the confines of their own home. All it should take are a couple of cameras, a competent sound man and a professional director to transfer the show onto the digital media. And if the producers are worried it would result in fewer audiences attending the live performance, well then - wait until the FINAL NIGHT OF THE RUN and offer discounted prices to the live audience attending.