Neil Patrick Harris is the latest in a long line of gay actors to successfully portray the role of the straight, single, middle-aged Bobby with all the married friends in Stephen Sondheim’s Company. This most recent edition, taped before a live audience with the New York Philharmonic in April, is coming to movie theatres for just four dates—June 15, 16, 19 and 21—a rare chance for fans of musical theatre to merge with fans of movie musicals. Need I mention that both categories are chock full of Our People who shouldn’t miss this rare opportunity to see, hear and glorify in all things Sondheim?
Harris is supported by an illustrious cast of well-known television and theatre actors (Martha Plimpton, Stephen Colbert, Kate Finneran, Christina Hendricks and Anika Noni Rose, among them) with the legendary Patti LuPone stepping into the role of diva Joanne, who memorably belts out “Ladies Who Lunch” (made famous by the previous generation’s legend, Elaine Stritch). Harris is a superb choice for Bobby—the irresistibly boyish bachelor doted on by his married women friends (“Poor Baby” they sing about their Bobby Bubby) and envied by their horndog husbands (who offer dating advice via the song “Have I Got A Girl for You”)—and he brings not only his affable charm and made-to-order singing voice but also the certain bittersweet, reflective qualities the material needs.
Company is considered a landmark musical, and for good reason: It’s the first of the truly “modern” musicals that eschewed romantic, light-hearted, feel-good musical-comedy progenitors and replaced them with a much more realistic and often-cynical approach. Company set the bar and went further by refusing to tether Sondheim’s amazing songs to an integrated book. (Instead, the freestanding songs comment on George Furth’s sometimes humorous and often acrid vignettes.) The result left one feeling disquieted and reflective rather than joyful (as it still does,) though Sondheim’s lyrical insights and gorgeous melodies have always helped ease the pain of the dark aftertaste that comes from the bulk of this and many of his other shows.
Longtime Sondheim collaborator Lonny Price has staged the show with revolving, modular set pieces; minimal but clever choreography; and retro costumes harkening back to 1970, when Company opened on Broadway—all of which certainly help. The bulk of the performances surrounding Harris’ solid work at the center also are blessings. Sondheim’s sensational score is sung well, if not particularly memorably (Harris and LuPone’s solos aside), backed by the 35-piece orchestra playing Jonathan Tunick’s beautiful arrangements (under the baton of another longtime Sondheim collaborator, Paul Gemignani). At times the eerily perfect voices make one miss the personality inherent in those of the original cast and, though the actors are pitching hard in their individual vignettes in which Bobby the bachelor observes the lives of the five married couples, Furth’s sitcomish material is still awfully thin and the wait for one of those indelible Sondheim songs can seem interminable.
What’s most fascinating about yet another production of this much-beloved, rather icy musical—aside from the joy of it finally being shown in a movie theatre—is, as previously mentioned, taking pleasure in watching another gay actor successfully essaying a straight role that has, in its 40-year history, generally eluded the gifts of the heterosexual actors who have attempted the part. This oddly fascinating conundrum might have something to do with the fact that, as New York magazine columnist Adam Feldman has said, Bobby’s “straightness seems a requirement of the plot but not of the character.” Perhaps gay men just have a higher comfort level with a guy who is clearly more at ease with the ladies than the men? (Another intriguing matter bubbling right under the surface of the show is why Sondheim and Furth, both gay men, created a landmark musical about the plusses and minuses of marriage in the first place.)
Sondheim and Furth have always contended that Bobby is not, never will be and never could be queer (the duo’s updating of the material in the mid-’90s includes Bobby stating emphatically, “I’m not gay”) and it’s true that Company, in its original and this updated form, wouldn’t really work if the character was. However, at the point that same-sex marriage becomes a national reality in this country, I’m betting the duo give the show yet one more facelift and we’ll see Roberta, the bachelorette, content to be single as she peeks in the lives of the five married gay couples who are her best friends.
Film notes:
—When his mother passed away, filmmaker Mark Wexler tackled his grief in part by exploring his own mortality—and maybe, how to prevent it. The resulting film, How to Live Forever, is an eye-opening, sobering and surprisingly—given its subject matter—entertaining tour that takes in an undertakers’ convention, a visit to a cryogenic installation and other end-of-life industries as well as advice on the subject from Suzanne Somers, Phyllis Diller, Ray Bradbury and a host of scientists working on extending life well beyond its current expiration date. The film’s Chicago premiere opens at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, Friday, June 17. Wexler will be present for post-screening discussions the opening weekend. www.siskelfilmcenter.org
—The Siskel is also celebrating gay pride with a 20th-anniversary screening of Todd Haynes’ seminal queer classic Poison on June 18 and 22. (A new 35mm print will be shown.) The 1991 indie feature kickstarted both the new queer cinema movement and Haynes’ subsequent filmmaking career, and was at the epicenter of cultural controversy—all of which I will explore in depth in next week’s annual pride issue.
—The Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, along with a batch of co-presenters including WTTW-11, has scheduled a Pride Month screening (Saturday, June 18, at 2 p.m. in the Claudia Cassidy Theatre) of the documentary Two Spirits. Directed by Lydia Nibley, the film, according to press materials, “explores the life and death of Fred Martinez and the ancient Native American two-spirit tradition” which accepts persons with integrated genders. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Kirsten Cox, a communications professional and former drag performer. Panelists include Kokumo Kinetic, a transgender spoken-word artist and filmmaker; Kate Sosin of GenderQueer Chicago; Avi Rudnick, of the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois; and Dr. Dorene Wiese, president of the Illinois American Indian Association. The event is free and open to the public. www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/
—Thirty-three years ago Alex, a young Peace Corps volunteer in Tehran, was separated from his Iranian lover, Ali, just as the stage was being set for the Iran revolution. In the ensuing years the men have been in contact but have not seen each other since the fateful day of their parting. Now, local filmmaker Malachi Leopold, Alex’s nephew, has begun a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a documentary (and potentially a feature film down the road) titled I am the Water, You are the Sea that will explore both the couple’s reunion (scheduled for this fall), their love affair which began in 1967 and the issues that forced their separation in the first place—issues that continue to plague thousands of gay couples worldwide. You can find out more about the project and help Leopold realize his dream by contributing to the campaign (which is ongoing until July 1 in honor of gay pride) at www.kickstarter.com/projects/malachileopold/i-am-the-water-you-are-the-sea.
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