PROJECT #3 PRODUCTION HISTORY

Original Broadway Production
Opened April 26, 1970 at the Alvin Theatre
Closed January 1, 1972; Ran for 690 performances
Produced by Harold Prince
in association with Ruth Mitchell
Directed by Harold Prince
Musical Numbers Staged by Michael Bennett
Sets and Projections by Boris Aronson
Costumes by D.D. Ryan
Lighting by Robert Ornbo
Dance Music Arranged by Wally Harper
Musical Direction by Harold Hastings
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick

1978 Equity Library Production
Opened May 4, 1978 at the Equity Library Theatre [off-Broadway]
Closed May 28, 1978; Ran for 30 performances
Produced by the Equity Library Theatre
[George Wojtasik, Managing Director; Lynn Montgomery, Production Director]
Directed by Robert Nigro
Choreography by Randy Hugill
Musical Direction: Eric Stern
Scenery by Richard B. Williams
Lighting by Victor En Yu Tan
Costumes by Mimi Maxmen


1980 Playwrights Horizons ProductionOpened March 8, 1980 at Queens Theater-in-the-Park
Closed March 30, 1980
Produced by Playwrights Horizons
[Robert Moss, Producing Director; Jane Moss; Managing Director;
Andre Bishop, Artistic Director]
Directed by Andre Ernotte
Musical Staging: Theodore Pappas
Musical Direction: Michael Starobin
Set: Raymond C. Recht
Costumes: Molly Maginnis
Lighting: William D. Anderson

1987 York Theatre Company Production

Opened October 23, 1987 at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, NYC
Closed November 14, 1987; Ran for 20 performances
Produced by the York Theatre Company
[Janet Hayes Walker: Producing Director; Molly Pickering Grose: Managing Director]
Directed by Susan H. Schulman
Costumes by Michael Kras
Technical Director: Serge Hunkins
Choreography by Michael Lichtefeld
Musical Direction: David Krane

1995 Roundabout Theatre Production
Previews began August 30, 1995;
Ran for 43 preview performances
Opened October 5, 1995 at the Criterion Center Stage Right
Closed December 3, 1995; Ran for 60 performances
Produced by The Roundabout Theatre Company
[Todd Haimes, Artistic Director;
Ellen Richard, General Manager]
Directed by Scott Ellis
Musical Staging by Rob Marshall
Musical Direction by David Loud
Settings Designed by Tony Walton
Costumes Designed by William Ivey Long
Lighting Designed by Peter Kaczorowski
Sound Designed by Tony Meola
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick

1996 London RevivalOriginally produced at the Donmar Warehouse, London
Previews began December 1, 1995
Opened December 13, 1995; Closed March 2, 1996
Previews at the Albery Theatre began March 7, 1996
Opened March 13, 1996 at the Albery Theatre, London
Closed June 29, 1996
Directed by Sam Mendes
Designed by Mark Thompson
Musical Direction by Paddy Cunneen
Production Musical Director: Gareth Valentine
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Musical Staging by Jonathan Butterell
Lighting by Paul Pyant
Sound by John A. Leonard
Associate Producer: Caro Newling
Casting by Anne McNulty

2002 Kennedy Center Revival

Ran from May 17-June 29 2002 at the Eisenhower Theater, The Kennedy Center, Washington DC
Produced for The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by Max Woodward
[James A. Johnson, Chairman; Michael M. Kaiser, President;
Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director; Kay Cameron, Music Supervisor]
Directed by Sean Mathias
Choreography by Jodi Moccia
Musical Direction by Jonathan Tunick
Scenic Design: Derek McLane
Costume Design: Catherine Zuber
Lighting Design: Howell Binkley
Sound Design: Tom Morse
Projection Design: Michael Clark
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Technical Director: Neil Fleitel

Baltimore Sun

by J. Wynn Rousuck

You sense how much Company overturned musical theater tradition as soon as you see designer Derek McLane's stunning set for the Kennedy Center's production. The set is a cityscape turned on its side. The tops of skyscrapers jut straight out at the audience, and the bases recede into the distance, transforming the playing area into a deep, steel-and-glass tunnel. It's not a warm and welcoming place, and Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's brilliantly brittle 1970 show is anything but a heartwarming traditional musical. Company's protagonist is a bachelor named Bobby who, on the occasion of his 35th birthday, begins seriously questioning his unmarried state. The musical provides him with five case studies - the marriages of his 10 closest friends. John Barrowman - an actor whose looks and winning charm suggest a cross between Tom Cruise and Hugh Grant - makes it easy to see why Bobby attracts so many friends. But while Bobby would never tell them how to live their lives, they're all determined to get him to the altar so he can be as "happily" married as they are. The examples of their wobbly marriages, and of Bobby's relationships with three different women are presented as little vignettes - some sung, some spoken and a good many commented on by cast members who double as a kind of Greek chorus. The variety keeps the musical engrossing in the absence of a standard plot. At their best, director Mathias and choreographer Jodi Moccia spice up this variety with their own stylistic strokes. Consider, for example, the hilarious wedding jitters expressed by Alice Ripley's Amy in "Getting Married Today." Amy is dressed in full bridal regalia, but Mathias places her behind a kitchen counter, augmenting her wedding mini-dress and veil with yellow rubber gloves. As Emily Skinner repeatedly and beautifully intones, "Bless this day," Ripley's frantic Amy becomes increasingly incensed. Taking a break from her speed-sung list of reasons not to get married, Ripley bites down on one of the yellow gloves and rips the thing off with her teeth. It's totally in keeping with Bobby's own mixed feelings about marriage that, having witnessed Amy's neurotic display, he then proposes to her - the only woman on stage as frightened of marriage as he is. For the most part, Bobby seems quite content being the odd man out - a sentiment cleverly celebrated in the second-act opening number, "Side by Side by Side" which Mathias and Moccia present as a parade in Bobby's honor, complete with a large red banner bearing his name and a wheeled staircase that serves as a float on which he's perched, waving to his adoring fans. At the end of the number, however, his friends exit two by two, leaving him abandoned and alone. Not all of the numbers hit home this effectively. The songs sung by two of Bobby's girlfriends both misfire. Marcy Harriell belts out "Another Hundred People," an anthem to the loneliness of the crowded city, with plenty of oomph, but no perceptible desperation. And Kim Director's delivery of the stewardess' lament, "Barcelona," is bland and affectless, even for a character who's supposed to be a bit dull. In contrast, listen to the way Lynn Redgrave, playing a rich, often-married alcoholic, sells the bitter tirade/toast, "The Ladies Who Lunch." This song has become a signature piece for Elaine Stritch, who created the role. But if Stritch owns the song, Redgrave stakes a darned good claim with her throaty, acerbic, tell-it-like-it-is delivery. In the end, however, it is Barrowman who takes command of the stage, pouring a gamut of emotions, from dejection to hope, into the show's final song, "Being Alive." This song wasn't Sondheim's first choice for an ending. It replaced a number the musical's original director, Harold Prince, has described as the "most unhappy song ever written." "Being Alive" may be a gentler ending, but as Barrowman sings it, it's not a complete change of heart, not a promise that he'll live happily-ever-after, just that he'll be a little more open - and maybe, just maybe, he'll avoid some of his friends' mistakes.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-05-21/features/0205210109_1_marriage-sacred-traditions-john-barrowman/3

2004 Reprise! (Los Angeles) Production

Opened May 18, 2004 at the Freud Playhouse, UCLA, Los Angeles
Closed June 6, 2004 after a limited engagement of 24 performances
Presented by Reprise! Broadway's Best
[Marcia Seligson, Producing Artistic Director;
Jim Gardia, Managing Director]
Directed by David Lee
Choreographed by Kay Cole
Music Direction by Gerald Sternbach
Scenic Design: Bradley Kaye
Costume Design: Randy Gardell
Lighting Design: Tom Ruzika
Sound Design: Philip G. Allen
Associate Music Director: Mary Ekler
Music Coordinator: Joe Soldo
Technical Director: Peter Falco

2006 Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Production

Opened March 14, 2006 at the Robert S. Marx Theatre, Cincinnati
Closed April 14, 2006 after a limited engagement
Presented by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
[Producing Artistic Director: Edward Stern;
Executive Director: Buzz Ward]
Directed and Choreographed by John Doyle
Music Supervisor / Orchestrator: Mary-Mitchell Campbell
Set Designer: David Gallo
Costume Designer: Ann Hould-Ward
Lighting Designer: Thomas C. Hase
Sound Designer: Andrew Keister

2007 Revival Production

Opened November 29, 2007 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre New York, New York

Closed July 1, 2007

Theatre Owned / Operated by The Shubert Organization (Gerald Schoenfeld: Chairman; Philip J. Smith: President; Robert E. Wankel: Executive Vice President)

Produced by Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Thomas Viertel, Steven Baruch, The Ambassador Theatre Group, Tulchin/Bartner Productions, Darren Bagert and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park (Edward Stern, Producing Artistic Director; Buzz Ward, Executive Director)

Directed and Choreographed by John Doyle

Scenic Design by David Gallo; Costume Design by Ann Hould-Ward; Lighting Design by Thomas C. Hase; Sound Design by Andrew Keister; Hair and Wig Design by David H. Lawrence; Make-Up Design by Angelina Avallone; Associate Scenic Design: Mary Hamrick; Assistant Scenic Design: Josh Zangen; Associate Costume Design: Sidney Shannon; Associate Lighting Design: Paul Miller; Assistant Lighting Design: Bradley Clements; Assistant Sound Design: Michael Bogden

Variety Magazine

by David Rooney

Posted: Wed., Nov. 29, 2006, 7:00pm PT

While plenty of dark material had already surfaced in shows through the '60s, "Company" arguably marked the first time that upper-middle-class Manhattanites -- the prime demographic for Broadway theatergoing -- were confronted in a musical with the frustrations of their own lives. Depicting New York as a "city of strangers" struggling to connect or stay connected, "Company" took a further step away from the frothy-tuner mold, presenting relationship woes, solitude and alienation with trenchant insight and biting wit. Funny, melancholy and moving, Doyle's elegantly spare production is set in no specific time. Via certain lyrics and such period staples as a pot-smoking scene, it remains rooted in the 1970s but bristles with anxieties that feel entirely contemporary.With one or two exceptions, this is not the youngest, sexiest "Company" cast ever assembled, but the older ensemble pays dividends. These are jaded married couples and battered dating-scene refugees, after all, either beyond the first flights of passion or rendered too cautious and fearful by experience to embrace it. From the moment the cast steps onto David Gallo's minimalist-chic set, their harmonies on the obsessive "Bobby" refrain echoing in some ghostly chamber of the mind, it's clear Doyle is not planning a party. Doyle's concept works splendidly in the emotional climax, when Bobby, heretofore not allocated musical duties, expresses his release and newfound openness by tentatively sitting down to play piano in "Being Alive," stirringly sung by Esparza. As artificially enhanced orchestras become more prevalent, there are distinct rewards in watching Sondheim's marvelous numbers -- there's not a weak song in the show -- brought to life. Working this time with orchestrator Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Doyle again fosters a rich appreciation of the specific roles of strings, brass, keyboards or percussion that's not always apparent from the pit. As in the director's "Sweeney Todd," the blocking here takes precision to new levels as the actors maneuver their instruments around Gallo's stylish set dominated by a central column and plexiglass cubes, with swivel chairs on an elevated platform behind. Compensating for the switch from the semi-thrust stage for which the production was conceived at Cincinnati Playhouse, a parquet square provides a false thrust around which the ensemble pace like satellites in Bobby's troubled head.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=review&id=theater&reviewid=VE1117932218