This was the first show I saw in 2019 and it started my year off very nicely. I got my tickets on Todaytix rush tickets for £25! Great value however be on the app at 10am when it turns to 10:00 because they sell out!
I saw Company on a busy Saturday night at the Gielgud. The audiences were so excited! I sat in Row P Seat 4 and the view was incredible. This theatre is quite cosy so even though I was near the back i still felt very close to the stage.
A gender-flipped Bobbie makes ‘Company’ contemporary and modern. Marianne Elliott’s classy revival is extremely clever and intelligent. Updating a musical which was nearly 50 years old and attracts new audience’s is a great achievement.
Written in 1969 and based on seven short plays by George Furth, It’s a story of a 35-year-old singleton and struggling with the social pressure to settle down.
Starring Rosalie Craig as Bobbie and Patti Lupone as Joanne. Rosalie give a flawless performance of the complex character of Bobbie. She is Bobbie. She conveyed the constant pressure of a biological clock that is always ticking for her to get married. And of course Patti is a wonderful Joanne with such unique vocals!
The whole show revolves around Bobbie being 35 and Alone. We started the rollercoaster of company with a soundscape that transports us from London to New York. We meet different couples along the way with Bobbie going down a journey in her head through all her married friends. I personally really liked the structure however I must say this musical is not for everyone. In the interval I heard a lot of confusion from the audience members about what happened. At the end of Act 1 I said”well its okay” and its different which I like but I thought the Music by Stephen Sondheim was incredible! I could get the Bobbie motif out of my head.
So Act 2 came round and my friend had a front row rush ticket when I got them so we decided to swap so I could watch it from the front row and Wow! I felt so much more involved and I enjoyed the show much more but thats not to say that Row P is rubbish I think the sound was quite quiet in the songs but being front row I could hear them singing without hearing it through a microphone. And even if I sat in Row P for Act 2 I think I still would of preferred act 2 because I liked the content of it more and everything made more sense. Also the nightmare sequence just summed the sub-text up. The direction for this show was perfection except ‘Another Hundred People’ which I didn’t patricianly enjoy.
The book for this show is very witty and feels natural however I didn’t think that it was laugh out loud comedy. Some of the scenes dragged a little in Act 1. At times I felt quite awkward around people who I felt like they were fake laughing a bit! But the songs and the stunning set design by Bunnie Christie compensated.The set featured neon lit Rooms that glided all around the stage. They would emerge though the smoke which felt like Inky darkness in Bobbies head. This show is visually stunning. The lighting was vibrant and had a dream like quality.
Overall I would say this is a 4 star show with some 5 star moments due to the incredible cast and direction! I would highly recommend this however it is not for everyone I would say!
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Thanks for Reading !
Eugene
Unofficial Theatre 