Company
The Queens Theatre,
London, Matinee Sunday 7 November 2010
Review by
This concert staging largely
involves the cast who appeared in the show some fifteen years ago at the Donmar Warehouse reprising their roles.
However, there have been a few replacements along the way, resulting in the
surprising appearances of Haydn Gwynne,
Gillian Bevan, and Summer Strallen.
Opening with the title song Company
finds most of the company on stage in a group. Apart from the obvious, our
leading man Adrian Lester, a few
others stand out, notably: Clive Rowe (because
he is one of those performers who generally does), Haydn Gwynne (possibly because she is the tallest of the woman),
and mysteriously distinctive woman in a sparkling silver-coloured dress.
Sitting a long way back (row P) of the stalls, makes it difficult to spot
individuals, and at first I wondered could it be Anna Francolini?
On to meeting the first of
the show’s couples. Sarah and Harry played by their original Donmar pairing of Rebecca Front and Clive Rowe.
This gets the show off to a good start, he has a drink problem and she a food
problem.
Presently we move on to the
next couple Susan and Peter, also played by their original Donmar pairings of Clare
Burt and Gareth Snook. Of the
first three couples introduced their performance seemed to be the one that made
the least impact. Clare’s role of a sensitive woman who is apt to faint at the
merest thing seems a world away from her Sondheim work at The Bridewell (as Senora Fosca in Passion – which she reprised for
that theatre’s farewell concert). Susan and Peter are on the point of deciding
to get divorced, but “haven’t told anyone
yet”. Their lines have a certain amount of comedy to them, if only the
actors had delivered them a little more memorably. It must be very strange for the actors to be
replaying roles they did fifteen years ago, for some of them a lot of water
must surely have flowed under the bridge since then. The third couple, Jenny
and David, make more of an impact. This time we don’t have the original Domar pairing (of Liza Sadovy and Teddy
Kempner), instead we have the woman in the silver dress, who turns out to
be Gillian Bevan, teamed with Richard Henders. These two certainly
make an impression, or at least Gillian does, playing the part of a woman who
is stoned (and doesn’t realise it).
Interspersed with this action
are of course the wonderful classic songs. So many of them are ones we
recognise from their numerous out of context performances in revues and charity
galas. Haydn Gwynne tackles the
first of these The Little Things You do Together with aplomb. She sings the
lyrics with excellent diction. She is ablely backed up by the rest of the
company, but it is she who makes this song very much her own, no matter who one
has heard do it! Which given that that number’s previous sensational
interpreters include Liz Robertson
(in the 1999
The rather little known Have
I Got A Girl For You is put across well by all five men Clive Rowe, Gareth Snook, Richard
Henders, Michael Simkins, and,
Adrian Lester
gets to sum things up and reply to them with a song done a fair amount out of
context Someone Is Waiting. It’s really good to hear this done for once
in context, with the lyrics sung very clearly, as this means we actually
realise that all the female names mentioned in it are in fact the names of
Robert’s married female friends, or the wives of his male friends.
On to another great classic
number, often done in revues and galas Another Hundred People. Given how
often it is done, and frequently done pretty well, it could be tough for any
actress to actually make it truly her own. But this afternoon that is exactly
what happens. Anna Francolini
delivers this classic sensationally. Pouring her considerable experience of
singing Sondheim into it. With her
great stage presence, excellent singing voice, and overall talent she makes
this number quite rightly one of the high spots of the evening, and gets great
applause. In between parts of this song the other two girls from the trio also
encounter Robert, with Marta meeting him last, only once she has finished the
song. It’s an extraordinary song. Marta is an extraordinary woman, and this
afternoon she is expertly played. A true triumph for Anna Francolini. One cannot forget that fifteen years ago, her
performance in this show earned her recognition she might not otherwise have
attained. (Things like getting a model locomotive partly named after her!).
Getting Married Today is yet another of those songs from Company
that keeps turning up out of context in revues, so it makes a refreshing change
to see it done totally in context. Although some of the out-of-context
performances have put ingenious twists on the song (Remember the obvious
“condition” of the “bride” in the 1999 Chelmsford production of Side
By Side By Sondheim’s performance of this number). This afternoon Sophie Thompson’s performance is
clearly helped by the fact that she is one of the original members of the Donmar cast. Though I found her a
little irritating she was convincing as “crazy
Amy”, and delivers the major portions of this song perfectly
satisfactorily, and up to speed. Michael
Simkins seems to have aged somewhat, nevertheless this brings a certain
something to the number, making
Getting Married Today is something of a potential showstopper. One of the
few problems with Sondheim musicals is that frequently leading actors are too
often required to try and follow on from potential showstoppers, which perhaps
explains that excellent though Adrian
Lester is, his performance of Marry Me A Little does not make
quite perhaps the impact it might have done had it not come so soon after Getting
Married Today. By now the first act is beginning to drag, and I was just
trying to remember whether or not Company actually has an interval
(well Assassins doesn’t have one, and Follies was not
originally intended to have one). Fortunately however Company yields to
convention and has an interval. Just as well because it being such a disjointed
piece can make is a little tedious, even though it is stunningly well
performed. Also I very much wanted to study the programme, so as to get a
better of idea of who I was actually watching in which part.
Act 2 opens
with a brief sort of recap of key points that have gone before, or is it
another birthday celebration? It’s not clear. I did however notice that while
most of the couples were clearly paired together; with: Sarah & Harry
slightly to stage right of centre, Joanne & Larry in the centre, Amy &
One of the problems with
classic show stopping numbers is that
they are so difficult to follow. Here it is followed by perhaps the least well
known number in the entire score, Poor Baby. Is this ever done outside
of Company?
I don’t think so. Fortunately we have such excellent ladies as Gillian Bevan and Haydn Gwynne among the ladies, as well as Clare Burt. But even so, in among so many well known songs the
number fails to make much impression.
On to another great classic.
Now it is long leggy blond Katherine
Kingsley’s turn to tackle a number that a few musical theatre actresses
have declined to do in galas, apparently because it is so associated with Julia McKenzie (with the result that Julia McKenzie was practically obliged
to do it in the Side By Side By Sondheim 30th Anniversary Gala). I
think the last time I saw this number done on stage was when it was given a
hilarious performance in TheatreMAD’s Flaunt It 2008 gala, by
two musical comedy performers who I can only describe as a right pair of muppets. A contrast to this afternoon,
where it is done entirely seriously. The number is of course Barcelona.
Oh yes Katherine Kingsley and Adrian Lester do of course sing it
perfectly well. This is one song which even when done out of context is usually
more or less given its context, all the same its still good to see it actually
in the show from whence it came.
Robert encounters a drunken
Joanne, alone while Larry is apparently cavorting on the dance floor. (We have
to use our imaginations here). The scene, and Joanne’s classic number The
Ladies Who Lunch, which comes in the middle of it, reminds me that on
the whole I am not keen on stage drunk acts. Although Haydn Gwynne is an excellent actress, and plays the part pretty
well, she is impressive, somehow I just didn’t really like it. But then I’ve
seen very few drunk acts on stage that I actually did like (one from Louise Plowright in The
World Goes Round, and several from Louise
Gold including most recently in Darling Of The Day). Indeed perhaps
part of the difficulty I had in watching Haydn’s performance today is that
after Louise Gold’s tour de force
(of Not
On Your Nellie) in Darling Of The Day any stage drunk
act was going to be a bit of a come down. However, just because I didn’t
particular like it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Haydn Gwynne is a fine actress, and her singing of The
Ladies Who Lunch was very well done, with excellent diction. She is a
good performer, who is clearly well able to tackle Sondheim. It’s certainly a treat to see a performer of her calibre
in the Elaine Stritch/Sheila Gish
role.
Finally Adrian Lester along with the company sing the poignant final number
Being Alive. After which they all
took their bows.
Well that should be the end
of the show. But the cast had all done such a terrific job the audience, most
of which was on its feet couldn’t stop applauding. So the cast came on for a
second bow. Or rather half of them, led by Anna
Francolini came on from stage right, but the half from stage left took a
while to appear, leaving Ms Francolini looking most bemused in the middle of
the stage, until they finally appeared and everyone could bow together, and
eventually retreat.
All in all a very special
concert performance of Company. It was a terrific idea to
try and reunite as many of the Donmar cast
as possible. Adrian Lester, was a
true star. Clare Burt and Gareth Snook were certainly
interesting, in a couple of somewhat ironic roles. Best of all it is a thrill
and a pleasure to see Anna Francolini
relive the show that fifteen years ago first marked her out as one of the
country’s excellent stalwart Sondheim
performers. But of course fifteen years is a long time, and not everyone could
be brought back for the show. However, the substitutes were generally good and
seemed to fit in will with the rest of the cast. Gillian Bevan was quite amazing. The only other time I have seen
her on stage was at the Regent’s Park 70th Anniversary
Gala, where she was very overshadowed. This afternoon she demonstrates
what a fine steady musical theatre performer she is. Not exactly the kind of
performer who would necessarily set the stage alight. But the sort of person
who is very useful and necessary to musical theatre. A performer who can get
the job done to a reasonable standard. By shear coincidence I’ve been reading
up about her recently (and listening to her Wizard Of Oz recording),
so it’s nice to see her perform on stage, and do such a fine performance. It’s
also great to see Haydn Gwynne on
stage, I’ve only seen her on stage once before, and that was in a Shakespeare play. She certainly proved
this afternoon that she can sing Sondheim
rather well. Let’s hope she does that more often.
Yes this matinee concert
staging of Company is a performance to remember. And special thanks to
that wonderful institution of a shop that is Dress Circle for their
foresight in having one of their ‘Theatre
Evenings’ to see it.