Company

Next up (after a... ahem... short hiatus), Stephen Sondheim's Company, which currently enjoys four-and-a-half English recordings (more on that math later) as well as German and Brazilian versions.  How do you say "coercin' a bull" in Portuguese anyway?

The Original Broadway Cast recording (OBC) starts out on rocky footing, but by the end of the first track, you want to be at a party with these people.  The energy of the company is irresistibly infectious, overflowing with such enthusiasm one wonders if the cast knew somehow what was in the cards for the relatively young composer's future.  Mr. Sondheim, as a composer/lyricist, had enjoyed one hit and one flop -- there was no Sweeney Todd or Into the Woods, no Pulitzer, no birthday concerts.  Sure, he had enjoyed success and failure in a mini-career as a lyricist for others (and legendary others, they), but he had barely turned the youthfully-spry age of 40 when Company was recorded.

The original Broadway cast, led by Dean Jones as Bobby, explodes off this album like a caffeinated martini (a less trashy Four Loko, I suppose).  Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations capture the swinging city in a vein similar to his Promises, Promises work two years earlier, and the full orchestra lets us hear all of Sondheim's layered countermelodies -- listen for the "Bobby Baby" theme under "Another Hundred People".  Although the short recording session, directly off opening weekend, leaves the cast with a few pitch questions and breath shortness, to paraphrase a William Finn song, they "may not hit all the notes, but [listen to] the joy!"  This cast invites us to their marvelous party, and from the downbeat, we've RSVP'ed with an all-caps YES!!

The biggest name in the supporting cast is Elaine Stritch, playing a role which could have been biographic.  Stritch's Joanne sweated pure vodka, introducing "Stephen Sondheim's three-act play 'The Ladies Who Lunch'" (her words), but that song is just the beginning.  Charles Kimbrough (later of 1990's TV on Murphy Brown) gives us the first "Sorry-Grateful"; Beth Howland pattered her way through "Getting Married Today" (imagine her face when handed that sheet music for the first time!); and several others that have since become Sondheim standards.

If the supporting cast defines the world and energy of Company, the actor playing Bobby is the one we all watch and, whether consciously or not, judge the production by.  Jones, more well-known at the time for the Love-Bug Disney films, gives Bobby an open-throated availability.  Although there are no spoken word scenes on the disc, his singing (reportedly an intimidating task for him) represents well the vulnerable enigma that Bobby is on the page -- a character trait that opens the door for the various interpretations of the role others have recorded.

The Original London Cast recording (OLC) is the half-recording from the tally mentioned earlier.  In a bit of recording magic that has been used since (usually when Brooke Shields takes over a role, apparently), the original Tony from West Side Story, Larry Kert, has been recorded over Dean Jones' tracks.  Kert took over the role from Jones a week into the Broadway run, was nominated for a Tony award in spite of not opening the role, and led the whole cast across the Atlantic to run the show in London.  The OLC has not been widely distributed on CD for the simple reason that the majority of the tracks are exactly the same as the OBC.  The only track that was re-recorded with another vocalist was "Barcelona".  Susan Browning had a different chemistry with Kert than she had with Jones, and it varies enough to make it worth a listen.

It took 25 years for Company to make it back to Broadway, but the 1995 Broadway Revival (BR95) was worth the wait.  If the original Broadway cast was positively perfect for their roles, this revival cast must have been the proverbial "Dream Team".  Between them to date, they have 112 Broadway credits, 22 Tony nominations, and 7 Tony wins (four of which, it must be noted, were won by Boyd Gaines) -- and that's not even including the Olivier Award, the Obie, and the 2 Emmys -- this cast was award season gold!

Featuring such stalwarts as Danny Burstein (lately in the Follies revival), Veanne Cox, Charlotte d'Amboise, Jane Krakowski, and Debra Monk, this recording has the cleanest singing of them all.  There are no pitch or harmony questions, and Sondheim's ridiculously long-held "love" chord in the opening doesn't even waver.  Although Debra Monk's Joanne finds some vestigial chains pulling her toward the Elaine Stritch vocalization, Veanne Cox's Amy has a terrific edge-of-sanity quality that she used to subtler effect in Caroline, or Change years later.

The one drawback to the polish of the vocalists' technique, is a reduced sense of that terrifically excited energy.  Where the original cast was the kind of party you might not go home with the guy who brought you to it, this cast feels more cleanly settled and has the weighty majority of Sondheim's writing career to look back on.  By this time St. Stephen had been canonized, and to be reviving a groundbreaking early work must have imparted a fervent desire to do it exactly right.  (The major exception to that overarching cleanliness is "Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You" which is orchestrated with a full vaudeville circus sound that makes you feel like you've wandered gleefully off into Barnum for a while.)

But what about Bobby?  Boyd Gaines' Bobby flips the show's original dynamic on its head.  Jones' Bobby was the only guy in a roomful of booze who isn't sure he wants a drink.  Gaines' Bobby is a smooth, confident dance partner who manages to make you want to buy him another round, at the same time as he's slipping off to make a call to his other girl.

Meanwhile back across the Atlantic, the 1996 London Revival recording (LRev), directed by Sam Mendes, did what British musicals do well -- cast actors who aren't known as singers.  Mendes enlisted Adrian Lester, more well-known to audiences of Shakespeare than Sondheim, as his Bobby, with an equally strong supporting ensemble. 

To be upfront, this is not the most highly-regarded recording of Company available, but it makes a nice statement about the show's possibilities.  As with a lot of transatlantic casts, accents can be a little loose (as loose as Americans trying to do My Fair Lady or Oliver!), but we can forgive that in the interest of international relations.  What this recording demonstrates is how allowing actors to relax from the strictness of musical specificity of the Broadway revival allows us to hear Sondheim's gift for creating act-able melodies.  The notes of "Have I Got a Girl For You", for instance, become conversational inflection rather than black spots in a row.  The music director even goes so far as to have the men's responses ("What...?", "Why?", etc.) in "Poor Baby" to be entirely unsung, freeing them to a variety of organic reactions.

Adrian Lester's vocal tone as Bobby is soft and bright, sometimes a bit nasal, and is often seen as "wrong" for the role.  If you chance him a listen however, you'll notice that he brings a vulnerability to the role for the first time, wearing his heart on his sleeve.  This is definitely not the hardened 1970's NYC smooth-talker we've met before, but instead a man who finds himself overcompensating for his friends' expectations for how he should live his life.

Which brings us finally to John Doyle's 2006 Broadway Revival recording (BR06).  Let's start with Raul Esparza's Bobby before getting into the greater details of the production.  Esparza takes Bobby to the opposite end as Adrian Lester -- wry, dark, hardened, and in many ways histrionic musically.  On the album at least (there is a video of the production commercially available), we don't find ourselves "staring at his charisma" as much as we find ourselves understanding his continuing single status.  This is not to say that it is a poor interpretation -- there is dramatic value to be had in hearing Bobby's emotions being sung so directly and not shied away from.  Barbara Walsh's Joanne is by far the freest of the lastingly impervious influence of Elaine Stritch.  But in addition to the Sondheim songs, the album makes the strong choice to include several of George Furth's book scenes as well, including the scenes which live between the verses of "Another Hundred People" (which admittedly can seem repetitive when threaded together, outside of the show's context).

Even considering all of that, this album is primarily known for being the one in which the actors serve as the orchestra as well.  If that's news, you haven't met John Doyle, or tried to hire a full union orchestra lately.  Yes, the actors are triple-threats in a new way:  Singing, Acting, Playing an Instrument, sometimes in the same number they're singing.  The girls' do-do-doo's in "You Can Drive a Person Crazy" are played by the actors on saxophones; there are some lovely string features in "Sorry, Grateful"; but most fun, the call-and-response between couples in "Side by Side by Side" is done with their musical instruments, adding to the fun.  Finally, for "Being Alive", Esparza gets to play an instrument for the first time (momentary triangle ting-a-ling aside), heading to the piano and beginning to lead himself apprehensively through the exploration of what being alive and marriage mean together, each of his friends joining in as he reaches his answer.

And now the playlist mix:

1. "Company" - BR95 - Get us in the door, hand us a drink, and sing the word "love" for 22 seconds.  Go!

2. "The Little Things You Do Together" - OBC - This song works best when the tempo is a bit quicker.  Musical Director Harold Hastings clips this song along, and our party hits its stride.

3. "Sorry-Grateful" - LRev - Olivier Award winner Clive Rowe brings a richness in voice, and conversational tone that is hard to beat.

4. "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" - OBC - That old-fashioned swing-sister-trio sound blends best with the bright 70's orchestrations on this one.

5. "Have I Got a Girl For You" - OBC - These are the only guys who manage to sing the word "hoo-boy" with it sounding excited instead of dated.

6. "Someone Is Waiting" - BR95 - Boyd Gaines is the voice it feels like Stephen Sondheim wrote this song for.

7. "Another Hundred People" - BR06 - Hearing the scene between the verses ices the cake of Marta's New York.

8. "Getting Married Today" - BR95 - Veanne Cox is not well, brilliantly.  (And Danny Burstein is her perfect devoted Paul.)

9. "Marry Me a Little" - LRev - Adrian Lester's earnest heart is on both sleeves, as he can't quite finish the final "I'm ready".

10. "Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You?" - OBC - Not only is Dean Jones in strong voice, and the cast the cleanest in their group vaudeville turn, but listen for the echo of Jones' taps in the emptiness of the studio (...and his life...).

11. "Poor Baby" - LRev - The ladies flip from sweet to aggressive concern on a dime.  For their part, the men capture the late-night pillow conversation flawlessly.

12. "Tick Tock" - BR95 - Jane Krakowski brings her trademark sensuality in spades.

13. "Barcelona" - OBC - You can hear Dean Jones realize what he's just done during his last "oh" just before he gets to "God".  And Susan Browning's voice is, well, for lack of a more appropriate word... post-coital.

14. "The Ladies Who Lunch" - OBC - Obviously.
(Although, it must be noted Barbara Walsh (BR06) holds an honorable second place for her equally compelling performance.)

15. "Being Alive" - OLC - Larry Kert gives this song everything he's got, and it's enough to make you forgive the tiny ghost of Dean Jones' voice in the back of the track.  (For the record, that was a truly difficult decision, you should listen to them all yourself and comment which one you think is best.)

Bonus Track:  "Getting Married Today" - Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall concert - Madeline Kahn (below) in a role she should have played, with the resonant Mark Jacoby as Paul, and if you look closely, Rebecca Luker as a bridesmaid.

"Look perhaps, I'll collapse in the apse..."