Company
July 2008 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

In 1970, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim rocked the world of musical theater with Company, a show that broke all the rules. There's no more stopping the show to sing a song. Sondheim's music seamlessly moved the plot along while revealing the personalities of the characters. Sondheim has since gone on to write shows that shatter yet more rules, productions like Follies, A Little Night Music (which gave birth to the enormously popular song "Send in the Clowns"), Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods. Musical theater devotees consider him the Shakespeare of stage drama, fashioning Sondheim "evenings" where performers from his various shows get together to act, sing, and dance the best parts. Most recently, Sondheim’s work came to the attention of the general public when Tim Burton directed a movie version of his masterpiece, Sweeney Todd.

Company is set in New York City, but it could take place in any large metropolis. Its lead character, Bobby, is celebrating his 35th birthday. He tries but cannot blow out his candles because he can’t wish for anything. We’re then shown, in flashback, his life as a single man, vicariously feeding off the hopes, dreams, successes, and failures of his married friends. They are Bobby’s "company." He is an observer of the world, not a participant. As the play goes on, he comes to realize that "alone is alone" and not the best place to be.

That description sounds very serious, but the message is delivered as comedy. Both spoken and sung texts are acerbic and witty, without wasting a single word. The humor is wicked at times, and I laughed more during this show than at any situation comedy of the last decade. This production uses only suggested sets. The costumes are all black and white, though faces, lipsticks, hair color and the like are natural. Scottish-born American-trained director John Doyle has made it part of his style that his actors also play musical instruments. There is no orchestra in the pit; the actors are the orchestra on stage, accompanying each other, and often switch and play two or three different instruments. This technique works musically and it adds another meaning to the term "ensemble cast." The approach really aids in defining Bobby’s detached character. He plays no instruments until the very end, when he sits at the piano to start "Being Alive," the show’s final big tune and tribute to being part of the human race.

The production was shot in HD at a live performance and the picture is clean and presented with proper color and contrast. It doesn’t have that last bit of sharpness that proclaims it as HD. Perhaps it was the original camera work, but there are few places where the foreground and background are in equal focus, which gives one more of a three-dimensional feel. The sound is very much up front and very centered as well. It’s clear, if a little dry. One can understand every word, even in the rapid fire of songs such as "Another Hundred People" or "Getting Married Today." The surrounds are mostly there for the audience response. If you feel like laughing out loud (and I guarantee you will), you’ll have good company all around you.

The extras include an enormously entertaining interview with Sondheim, in which he discloses that he doesn’t like the lyrics he wrote for West Side Story, how he came to write extra words for Barbra Streisand’s version of "Send in the Clowns," and what it was like to write lyrics for Ethel Merman’s big number in Gypsy. There are two shorter interviews with Doyle and star Raśl Esparza that are really eye-opening regarding the production of a show. All three of the interviews will greatly enhance one’s viewing pleasure of the show itself. Company is also available on regular DVD.

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