Stephen Sondheim’s Company Gets a Gender-Shifting Update at the Fox

Tell me if you’ve heard this one: a single woman over 35 is more likely to be taken hostage than to get married. That often repeated claim comes to life in the lively, well-performed and gender-switched version of Stephen Sondheim’s beloved musical comedy Company. Currently playing at the Fabulous Fox Theatre after a Tony award-winning Broadway revival, fans of the original won’t want to miss the lively, inventively staged production.

Bobbie is turning 35 and her friends and their partners have planned a surprise party to celebrate, only Bobbie isn’t quite feeling the mood. Instead she, and her friends, are obsessing over the fact that she’s never been married and doesn’t seem to have any eligible prospects. They’ve tried to set her up, invited her to join them on nights out and even helped her dissect the situation with her recent boyfriends. Still she remains single and, not to put too fine a point on it, the clock is ticking. Success at her job and a general satisfaction with herself notwithstanding, if she doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone, Bobbie really needs to get serious about finding someone and settling down.

Britney Coleman’s understudy Beth Stafford Laird sparkles in the role, exuding understated confidence with a slightly jaded perspective. Her voice is exceptional and she easily handles the necessary vocal and emotional range of the role. Bobbie’s signature songs “Someone Is Waiting,” “Marry Me a Little” and the closing “Being Alive” captivate the audience. Laird ensures that Bobbie isn’t just a cardboard caricature of a single woman. She bursts into genuine laughter and recedes into her vulnerability in ways that resonate before triumphantly claiming her own space in the final number.

Judy McLane is near perfection as Bobbie’s older, wiser friend Joanne. Her smoky alto is rich and full of texture, ensuring the penultimate “The Ladies Who Lunch” is the showstopper it’s meant to be. Tyler Hardwick is fabulous as the club-hopping PJ and his take on “Another Hundred People” is a standout number both vocally and for its inventive choreography and design. Matt Rodin and Jhardon DiShon Milton are charming as Bobbie’s gay BFF and his fiancé ensuring “Getting Married Today” is the heartwarming centerpiece to the three-song ending of Act I. Laird and Kenneth Quinney Francoeur hit every comic mark in “Barcelona” and Hardwick, Dickey and David Socolar create memorable harmony in “You Could Drive a Person Crazy.”

While acknowledging that Company is filled with engaging performances, catchy songs and inventive and compelling staging, I can’t wholeheartedly embrace the show. I hoped that the revival would reveal new depth or a sense of romantic relevance but, for me, this take misses the mark even more than the original. The story plays into outdated ideals and the inherently sexist and dehumanizing plot is even sharper with a straight female in the lead. And, frankly, a couple of the songs, particularly “Poor Baby,” feel predatory in a way that makes me cringe.

If you’re a hardcore fan of this musical, you won’t want to miss this genuinely engaging production. The rest of us may be better served waiting for the tour of Sweeney Todd to get our Sondheim fix.



Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed