“It’s just that you have to want to marry somebody, not just somebody.”
Company was originally a book written by George Furth about Robert, a single upper-class white male living in New York City, surrounded by his close-knit circle of married friends. The story centres on the likeable and charmingly handsome protagonist, Robert/Bobby. After turning thirty-five, he begins to consider that perhaps he is getting too old for the bachelor life and that settling down might be what his life is missing. He analyses his own issues with monogamy against the juxtaposition of relating his life to that of his questionably happily married group of friends. The plot weaves through a series of scenes that appear to jump in time like Robert’s own ghosts of Christmas past, as he spends different scenes with his married friends in conversation and then to dates wooing and yearning over women.
Company premiered on Broadway in 1970 as a musical comedy, with the music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim who is famous for writing on productions such as Sweeney Todd. He also won an Academy Award for the song “Sooner or Later” for Dick Tracey. The first production of Company was nominated for a record- setting fourteen Tony award nominations, six of which it won.
When I realised the cast were students, I was slightly sceptical about the quality of the production, but was immediately won over in the opening act by Jerrod Smith’s boyish charm in playing lead character, Robert. Robert gets drunk on his couch listening to voicemails when the impressively large cast of twenty-two actors slink out onto the stage in unison singing, “Bobby! Bobby Bobby, Baby, Bubi”. The recurring chant of the night sounds like The Simpsons parodying The Stepford Wives and it’s perfect. Weird and cartoonish, the five married couples each have their own fun character with eccentricities. The wives all have great roles, varying from the wholesome and loving to the rich and unruly. Joanne, played to a tee by Julia Pendrith, flaunts her high-class taste from her diamond encrusted necklace to her wealthy husband who always pays. In the song “The ladies who lunch” she barks her lyrics at various people at the bar, whilst sipping on cocktails and casually smoking cigarettes.
Amy, the reluctant bride to be, is played by Kyra Thompson and she performs my favourite song of the evening, “Getting married today”. The song is manic and hilarious in her desperate pleads to the audience to understand the tribulations that will come with her getting married. Vocally the song is a quick fired word twister that would leave some rappers tongue tied. Kyra’s expressions and wide eyes emphasise her desperation, as she crawls across the stage in an attempt to avoid going down the aisle. The whole performance was striking and resembled something from Looney Tunes.
The majority of the actors who play the role of the husbands are more supporting roles to their wives, as they play the stiff rich ken dolls in fine suits with slick hair. During some of the ensemble performances you can see that many of the men have a lot of experience in dancing, with some of the slicker leg moves performed by the males. However, the finest dance performance came from Emily Corkeron, who appears during a scene where Robert is in bed with one of his girlfriends. Emily, dressed in lingerie, mixes her moves between ballet and sensual interpretive dance to convey the happenings going on under old Robert’s sheets. It was a great way to fulfil a sex scene without the use of lighting trickery or simulated acting, giving the audience an emotive, dramatic visual to convey the message.
The play goes for two hours with a twenty minute interval. I found that some of the solo songs of Robert’s lonesome cries were beginning to blur into one another and repeat themselves too much, with possibly one or two being trimmed to avoid an interval. The performance works best as an ensemble, with many highlights coming from all the actors working together to create an amazing energy and choreography that blends the sounds of 50’s Sinatra jazz tossed into a blender with one of Danny Elfman’s chaotic Tim Burton scores.
I highly recommend this Brisbane Powerhouse performance, presented by Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Performing Arts, to everyone. Not just the guys at home swiping left on their tinder app, too afraid to possibly find their true company.
28th July - 4th August (Excluding Mon)
Brisbane Powerhouse, Visy Theatre
Review by: Thomas Harrison