Original Cast Album - Company

Original Cast Album - Company
by D.A. Pennebaker

Original Cast Album - Company
List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $24.49
You Save: $2.46 (9%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $16.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Beth Howland, Charles Braswell, George Coe, George Furth, Thomas Z. Shepherd
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
Brand: New Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 58 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Video Group

Movie Reviews of Original Cast Album - Company

Movie Review: A Must-Have for Musical Theatre Fans!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is an amazing film documenting the making of the original cast album for Company -- a marathon recording session ending with the incomparable Elaine Stritch striving for the definitive take on "The Ladies Who Lunch." If you're a musical theatre fan, you'll love to see the working relationship among the actors, Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince and others. And if you every wondered how much hard work and dedication goes into this kind of performance...!

Summary of Original Cast Album - Company

Called a "monumental achievement" by the Los Angeles Times, Company is the extraordinary documentary capturing the explosive recording session for Stephen Sondheim's landmark musical. On May 3, 1970, just a few days after its triumphant Broadway opening,
While a proposed series of original cast recording sessions for documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Don't Look Back) never materialized, Original Cast Album: Company survives as the first and only entry, and it was fortuitous that its subject was the 1970 musical Company. Groundbreaking in its use of a series of vignettes rather than a conventional plot, it was also one of the earliest major works for composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the most important figure in musical theater over the last quarter-century. Unlike films, theater productions rarely have a permanent record, so a musical is preserved for posterity by the cast recording. This puts all the pressure on the recording session, as cast member Susan Browning explains during the recording of "You Could Drive a Person Crazy": a live performance can be imperfect, but "this is different. This is the definitive, it's the end-all and the be-all of this song, and... God, that could drive a person crazy!"

For this film, Pennebaker and his crew took three hand-held cameras into the studio and filmed the singers, the orchestra, and the control booth, then condensed the 18.5-hour recording session into a fast-moving 60 minutes. You can see the intensity and sheer enjoyment on the faces of the cast, and record producer Thomas Z. Shepard, show producer-director Harold Prince (both frequent Sondheim collaborators), and Sondheim (a notorious perfectionist) become alternately exhilarated and exasperated as they listen and try to solve various problems. Other interesting moments include an emphasis on the orchestra rather than the lead vocal in "Another Hundred People," and Elaine Stritch's exhausting take after take of "The Ladies Who Lunch." This is a rare look at an important moment in Broadway history, and obviously, it's highly recommended for Broadway fans. --David Horiuchi

Documentary DVD Video

DVD Video
Movies most talked about in Theater Documentaries
Moon over Broadway ImageMoon over Broadway
Docurama; Release date: 2000-07-05; DVD
Best price: $18.24
Price in other shops: $29.95
Original Cast Album - Company ImageOriginal Cast Album - Company
New Video; Release date: 2001-01-02; DVD
Best price: $24.49
Price in other shops: $26.95
OT:OUR TOWN. A Famous American Play in an Infamous American Town ImageOT:OUR TOWN. A Famous American Play in an Infamous American Town
Release date: 2005-01-01; DVD
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $14.95
Sing Faster - The Stagehands' Ring Cycle ImageSing Faster - The Stagehands' Ring Cycle
New Video; Release date: 2004-06-29; DVD
Best price: $10.15
Price in other shops: $19.95
In the Shadow of the Stars ImageIn the Shadow of the Stars
New Video; Release date: 2005-08-30; DVD
Best price: $11.03
Price in other shops: $19.95
Try to Remember - The Fantasticks ImageTry to Remember - The Fantasticks
Release date: 2005-01-25; DVD
Best price: $14.04
Price in other shops: $24.99
Children Will Listen ImageChildren Will Listen
Release date: 2005-01-18; DVD
Best price: $13.58
Price in other shops: $24.99
Broadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There ImageBroadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Broadway; Release date: 2004-11-09; DVD
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops: $13.98
Broadway: The American Musical ImageBroadway: The American Musical
Broadway; Release date: 2004-10-12; DVD
Best price: $32.79
Price in other shops: $59.99
Show Business - The Road to Broadway ImageShow Business - The Road to Broadway
RYKODISC; Release date: 2007-10-16; DVD
Price in other shops: $19.95
Similar DVD Movies
Pippin ImagePippin
Release date: 2000-10-31; DVD
Best price: $10.84
Price in other shops: $19.99
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase) ImageSweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase)
WARNER HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $8.18
Price in other shops: $14.97
A Little Night Music ImageA Little Night Music
Release date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops: $24.95
Road Show ImageRoad Show
SONDHEIM,STEPHEN; Release date: 2009-06-30; Music CD
Best price: $12.65
Price in other shops: $20.98
Company - A Musical Comedy (1970 Original Broadway Cast) ImageCompany - A Musical Comedy (1970 Original Broadway Cast)
Sony; Release date: 1998-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $4.65
Price in other shops: $11.98
The Stephen Sondheim Collection (Into the Woods / Sunday in the Park with George / Follies in Concert / Passion / Sweeney Todd in Concert / A Celebration at Carnegie Hall) ImageThe Stephen Sondheim Collection (Into the Woods / Sunday in the Park with George / Follies in Concert / Passion / Sweeney Todd in Concert / A Celebration at Carnegie Hall)
SONDHEIM,STEPHEN; Release date: 2003-09-23; DVD
Best price: $68.99
Price in other shops: $119.99
Elaine Stritch at Liberty ImageElaine Stritch at Liberty
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2003-10-21; DVD
Best price: $15.79
Price in other shops: $24.99
Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert ImageStephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2001-07-24; DVD
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops: $24.99
Sunday in the Park with George ImageSunday in the Park with George
IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 1999-03-23; DVD
Best price: $14.58
Price in other shops: $24.98
Company: A Musical Comedy ImageCompany: A Musical Comedy
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-05-20; DVD
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops: $24.99
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners