Saturday March 30, 2024
Company
Review

Company

July 6 2007

Company, Kookaburra, Theatre Royal to August 4 2007; www.kookaburra.org.au

If the show you're staging - Company - is one of the best known in the oeuvre of arguably the most revered composer-lyricist of the 20th century - Stephen Sondheim - and he is in the audience on opening night, you'd be praying it would be as good as the Kookaburra-Sydney production.

In truth Kookaburra's Peter Cousens' prayers were answered months ago when he asked Gale Edwards to direct, when David Campbell, Anne Looby, Tamsin Carroll and Simon Burke signed on to appear in it; when John O'Connell took on the job of choreographer and when the decision was made - or the demand from the licence holders was made - to put a sensible orchestra in the pit (reeds and horns as well as the usual with Peter Casey in charge).

On opening night in Sydney - with Sondheim sitting in the centre of Row H - the company of Company put on a sparkling, slick and sassy show that demonstrated how nothing much changes when it comes to human relationships. The premiere production on Broadway opened in 1970 and was rewarded with 14 Tony nominations, six awards and a run of 690 performances. It's typically Sondheim in that it it's not typical of most other Broadway musical theatre: the stories it tells of couples either coupling or uncoupling are sharp, poignant, realistic and funny; the music is bittersweet and sophisticated and the performers are given a lot of leeway to act and bring their roles to life.

There is a handful of songs which are rightly famous without being hummable pop tunes (You Could Drive a Person Crazy, Barcelona, Ladies Who Lunch); while there can be few members of an audience who couldn't identify - willingly or unwillingly, wincing or shuddering or silently chuckling - with the characters and their marital and romantic dilemmas. The whole is wrapped up - visually - as a gift box with red ribbons of light framing a mainly empty stage whose only dressing is a representation or two of the Manhattan skyline and an apartment balcony (designer Brian Thomson, lighting Damien Cooper); Julie Lynch's costumes are a delicious mix of evening chic and PVC kookiness.

Company

Company is the show Kookaburra needs to establish itself as a bona fide producer of excellence - not just top notch performers and creatives but also a first rank work for them to get their wonderfully talented teeth into. There isn't a weak link in the cast and Company itself has stood the test of time to now rank as a modern classic. It's terrific entertainment that engages at all levels. Phew.

You can hear an interview with David Campbell about Company in episode 29 of Stagecast.

 

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