The mystery of why recorded-for-TV theatre is almost always a big mistake continues tonight with the national broadcast of “Company” on the PBS series “Great Performances.”
The TV show is a recording of a live performance of the fine revival of the 1970 Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical last season at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
The score is a marvel, as always — packed with great Sondheim tunes such as “Another Hundred People” and “The Ladies Who Lunch” — but as a stand-alone piece of entertainment the PBS presentation is a fizzle.
It is very tough work to make a movie out of a musical, but it has been done well in recent years in the cases of “Chicago” and “Hairspray.” What made those films successful, however, was the fact that the pieces were completely reconceived for the new medium.
The folks behind “Company” on PBS made the mistake of recording the show in front of an overcharged live audience that interferes with our own response to the material and the characters — it sounds as jarring as canned laughter and applause.
“Company” is tricky to revive on stage because the piece is such a product of the New York pop culture and morality of the late 1960s. The not-so-happily unmarried 35-year-old central figure — Bobby (Raul Esparza, above) — reads as gay in the 21st century (something never addressed in the revisions of the book George Furth has made over the years).
The show has always felt a bit sterile in its portrayal of this bachelor because we get almost no sense of his work or his relationships with anyone other than a few brittle married couples. Even in 1970, many of us wondered what kind of life Bobby led away from the couples and the two or three ditzy “girlfriends” who appear briefly.
What carried the show in 1970 and continues to make it score in revival are the brilliant Sondheim songs — each one a mini-play about Manhattan life and lifestyles.
“Company” demands strong actor-singers and the 2006 revival had them in abundance — from Esparza (the best Bobby I’ve ever seen) to Barbara Walsh to Connecticut’s own Kristin Huffman.
Recording the show in front of a packed Ethel Barrymore Theatre left the cast in the terrible position of playing to two audiences simultaneously — the one in front of them laughing and cheering, and the future (and silent) audience that would be watching them months later on television.
One of the obvious and great things about live theatre — versus film and TV — is the freedom to shift your gaze from place to place and character to character, depending on what might interest you at each particular moment.
For TV, “Company” has been boiled down to close-ups and dissolves that distort director John Doyle’s stage pictures and the subtle choreography. The close-ups are fine during the solo numbers — such as Tony nominee Esparza’s spectacular rendition of “Being Alive” at the end — but the cutting in the ensemble sequences is almost always an irritation.
(PBS is airing “Company” on most of its afilliates tonight at 9 p.m.)
Joe's View
With Joe Meyers, entertainment writer
Joe, Once again, I agree with you. I just happen to catch this on PBS the other night and am so starved for Sondheim, I watched it (and even wrote down the 1-800 number to order the dvd, as you know I am a dvd freak.) But, Jeez, it was so odd and dated, mostly because of the audience reaction. Much love, L