Being Alive, and Well: Fine 'Company' Fits Nicely Into New Venus Cabaret Theater at Mercury -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

Company
Venus Cabaret Theater
at Mercury Theater, Chicago
Thru June 3
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An appreciation for the musicals of the brilliant Stephen Sondheim has not only earmarked approximately the last third of my life, it has considerably enhanced it.

In every year since 2001, I have seen at least one live rendition--and often several--of shows for which Sondheim wrote the music & lyrics (or, in the cases of West Side Story and Gypsy, just the lyrics).

There have also been a number of revues featuring the maestro's sublime songs, tribute concerts (including some televised ones) and even a few occasions at which I got to see Sondheim himself speak.

But I find that revisiting the material--including via Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods movies--never fails to tangibly regenerate my "passion" for Sondheim, whose lyrics (and music) uniquely befit a given show while invariably being remarkably sage on a universal level.

So although I had seen his 1970 musical, Company, as recently as 2016 (in a terrific take at Glencoe's Writers Theatre) and own-on-DVD two New York productions from just the past dozen years, I was excited to check out yet another rendition by Chicago's fine self-producing Mercury Theater.

This wasn't my first Sondheim show of 2018, as I saw Porchlight's Merrily We Roll Along in late January, but still represented something enticingly new.

Although I didn't quite grasp this until I arrived Saturday afternoon at Mercury's longstanding home on Southport Avenue--just doors from the Music Box Theater--under the auspices of executive director L. Walter Stearns, the Venus Cabaret Theater has newly been opened in an adjoining space.

The large auditorium--whose origins date back to 1912 and in which I'd seen Mercury productions of The Producers, Avenue Q and Ring of Fire--still exists, but while I can't cite exactly which restaurant or bar most recently sat just south, extensive renovation has created the Venus.

Company represents the public bow for the spiffy new 80-seat space, and it's a show that works quite well in such a setting.

The 2-act show revolves around a New York bachelor named Robert (nicely played here by David Sajewich), who, as the show opens is being feted at a surprise 35th birthday party.

Before the performance begins, cast members mingle with the audience, even doing some ushering and cocktail serving, and occasionally are interspersed throughout during the show.

This helps the patrons feel like they are at Robert's party and--at least at the opening performance--we were graciously provided with charcuterie boards and birthday cake.

A three-piece band, let by music director Eugene Dizon, provides fine accompaniment, and the cast does Sondheim's fine songs--largely about marriage and relationships, as Robert's pals cajole him about remaining single--generally quite proud.

Some exemplary so, such as Sajewich on "Someone is Waiting," Kyrie Courter (as Marta) on "Another Hundred People," Jenna Coker-Jones (as Amy) on a wonderfully-frazzled "Getting Married Today" and Heather Townsend (as Joanne) on "Ladies Who Lunch."

Group numbers, such as "Side by Side," sound fantastic, and along with Sajewich, Allison Sill shines on the sublime "Barcelona."

Townsend also well-renders "The Little Things You Do Together" as Frederick Harris and Nicole Cready engage in married-couple karate while welcoming Robert to their home.

But Company--which features adjoining vignettes rather than a straight-line narrative, and has several long stretches without songs being sung--is a tough show to get exactly right.

And while I would recommend this production to anyone not familiar with Company--and even Sondheim acolytes who are--it isn't as goosebump-inducingly good as others I've seen.

None of the performances deserve knocking, but there were a few too few "OMG!" vocal deliveries, and even some timbres close to suspect.

And though Stearns, who directs, is clearly a pro who gets what Sondheim, book writer George Furth and original director Harold Prince were going for, he doesn't quite solve the pacing problems in a seamless way.

Also, while on the surface, the idea to include smartphones onstage seems sage, especially given the literal contemporary setting within the Venus, it does bring a strange dichotomy.

That Sondheim, a gay man not knowingly in a long-term relationship until years later, would in the late-'60s write a somewhat cheeky, but largely not, ode to the wonders of marriage, makes the whole affair feel a bit dated.

Yet if we are to imagine Company is taking place circa 2018 and not 1970--given the iPhones and other small touches--it feels odd that "Bobby" is being given shit for still being single at 35, that none of the couples are gay (though one of the men makes a pass at Robert) and that the actors are predominantly young and white.

I realize that some of these issues are inherent to the material, not unilaterally adjustable (i.e. without seeking/receiving permission) and that you hire the best performers who audition.

So that Mercury's first foray into a "cabaret musical"--with no scenery except for nicely-utilized video panels--is as good as it is, is largely estimable.

And any day when I get to hear fine renditions of "Sorry Grateful," "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," "Being Alive" and pretty much all of the songs in this show is a good one.

This may not quite be the Sondheim rendering of one's dreams, but especially in a comfortable and welcoming new venue, it undoubtedly makes for fine Company.

Holy Matrimony, Sondheim: Love is Spending an Afternoon with Blissful 'Company' in Swell New Digs -- Chicago Theater Review

Theater Review

Company

Writers Theatre, Glencoe

Thru July 31

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My understanding and appreciation of the world has been considerably enriched by Stephen Sondheim.

And my understanding and appreciation of Stephen Sondheim has been considerably enhanced by—among 50+ productions I’ve seen of his various musicals—a few truly exquisite renditions.

This isn’t to knock community theater stagings or more pedestrian professional versions, many of which have been highly enjoyable.

And this isn’t a case of theatrical snobbery, as Broadway productions of Follies and Sunday in the Park with George aren’t among those I rank as the very best.

Both those shows were more perfectly rendered by Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (links to my Follies and Sunday... reviews), under the direction of Gary Griffin, as were A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Passion and Gypsy.

The new Writers Theatre building in Glencoe

Passion, Sunday… and Anyone Can Whistle were also given sublime concert stagings at Ravinia with Broadway luminaries Patti LuPone, Audra MacDonald and Michael Cerveris. (So were , Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music, but I didn’t see them there.)

I still recall a terrific Sweeney Todd by Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2002, and a more recent strong version at Drury Lane Oakbrook, one of several venues where I’ve seen resplendent West Side Storys in recent years.

After a couple lesser versions, a Northwestern University student take on Into the Woods helped me appreciate all of its charms. And though I’ve only seen Merrily We Roll Along done by a small suburban troupe, it was a storied production with Jessie Mueller in her last local show before becoming a Tony-winning Broadway star.

Which essentially left Company as the only major Sondheim work I’d yet to see, and appreciate, at full tilt (excepting a rather strong 2006 Broadway version and 2011 New York Philharmonic rendition seen via DVD).

I would think the show a natural for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre to stage as they’ve done with many other Sondheim shows, and as the narrative is uniquely episodic rather than linear, it would seem quite apt for a Ravinia concert staging.

But fortunately, after not getting a professional Equity Chicagoland production of Company since 1989 if the Writers Theatre show program is to be believed, the Glencoe self-producing house is now presenting it as the first mainstage production in its beautiful new home designed by world-renowned Chicago architect Jeanne Gang.

And corroborating my opening thesis, the superbly staged, sung and acted performance considerably elevated my regard for Company, well-beyond simply knowing the wonderful score or having seen somewhat middling community and small professional productions in the early '00s.

Obviously, any musical--or play for that matter--will be more satisfying the better the production values and performances, but given the intelligence, depth and sophistication of Sondheim's music and particularly his lyrics, a truly supreme iteration is especially appreciable.

Company was first staged on Broadway in 1970, and like every show since for which Sondheim wrote both the music and lyrics, it can challenge unsuspecting audiences. (West Side Story and Gypsy, for which Sondheim only wrote the lyrics in the late '50s, are brilliant but less emblematic of the shows he also composed.)

Coming 8 years after Sondheim's only real 1960s hit, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and half a decade after two flops--Anyone Can Whistle and Do I Hear a Waltz?--the ensemble piece was both daring and groundbreaking.

Not only is it devoid of chorus lines or much choreography, but rather than having a cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end, it offers keen insights on married life by having 35-year-old bachelor Robert--well-played at Writers by Thom Miller--observe five sets of married couples in a series of vignettes.

With three women Robert--or alternatively, as in the show's dominant musical motif, Bobby, Bubby, Robby, etc.--is dating also factoring in, each scene involves a good amount of dialogue (written by George Furth) that leads into a song, either by the given couple, the other couples, Robert, his paramours or some combination thereof. (Little in the world of Stephen Sondheim is ever routine.)

If you don't know the songs of Company, my describing them isn't going to adequately convey how shrewd they are, but each one works brilliantly on multiple levels, both within the show and as universal life lessons.

For example, early in the show, following a vignette where Robert visits his friends Harry and Sarah (James Earl Jones II and Alexis J. Rogers, both superb), who wind up wrestling with each other, the song "The Little Things You Do Together" features stanzas such as:

"It's the little things you share together,
Swear together, 
Wear together, 
That make perfect relationships. 
The concerts you enjoy together, 
Neighbors you annoy together, 
Children you destroy together, 
That keep marriage intact"

But while I would recommend that Writers patrons wanting to get the most out of Company familiarize themselves with the music ahead of time--and be forewarned about the and non-linear, episodic conceit--what makes this production directed by William Brown so good is how well each of the scenes work beyond the songs.

I used to perceive them as often dull, overlong interludes, but here they truly add to the artfulness and acuity in depicting relationships.

This is abetted not only by universally strong acting (and then singing)--Allison Hendrix (as Amy), Christine Mild (Marta) and Lia Mortensen (Joanne) are among the standouts--but by the deftly intimate 250-seat Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre within Writers' spacious new complex.

On a considerably smaller scale than Chicago Shakespeare employs for its mainstage Sondheim affairs, director Brown and set designer Todd Rosenthal really make smart use of the thrust stage to let one imagine we're with Robert and his friends in various Manhattan apartments.

The makeshift bedroom on the wondrous "Barcelona"--featuring Jess Godwin as April, a stewardess Robert is seeing--is particularly ingenious.

As, again, are so many of Sondheim's songs, including "Another Hundred People" about the non-stop pace of the Big Apple (really well-sung by Mild), "Getting Married Today," probably the most brilliant song ever composed about getting cold feet on one's wedding day (Hendrix handles the staccato lyrics terrifically), "The Ladies Who Lunch," with Mortensen giving a different but fully compelling feel to a tune made famous by Elaine Stritch in the original cast, Robert's closing "Being Alive," strongly delivered by Miller.

For all the insights the songs and libretto put forth about married life--and it's worth noting that Stephen Sondheim is a gay man not himself in a long-term relationship until recent years; in 1970 the word "gay" was barely referenced in Company and gay marriage not depicted--I can't say I can truly gauge the intended motivations of the central character.

I'm not really sure if Robert longs to be married--at any point in the show--or is just continually made to feel sheepish and apologetic about remaining single by his wedded friends.

Making things a bit more interesting at Writers is that while seemingly none of the original dialogue or lyrics are altered--therefore keeping things in certain regards as they were in 1970--Brown's decision to prominently employ smartphones makes this Company feel rather contemporary at the same time. 

Based on some audience reactions I heard, as well as those of patrons at a performance a relative attended, Company probably isn't a musical everyone will wholeheartedly embrace, especially on a first encounter without some wherewithal. (For all of the beauty of Gang's interior space, the theater would do well to glean the type of informational displays well-employed by Northlight and TimeLine theaters.)

Appreciating Sondheim takes a bit of work, and although I think several of the songs here are rather hummable, this isn't a traditional "show tunes" musical.

But for those, like me, who love most everything the maestro has done, you'd be hard-pressed to spend 2-1/2 hours in more delightful Company.