Customer Reviews

Company - A Musical Comedy (1996 London Revival Cast)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

While many say not to go near a "Company" album after the original, I must give my input. Both albums are spectacular, and honestly, they compete with each other. Adrian Lester is a much better Bobby than Dean Jones ever could have been, and Sophie Thompson's rendition of "Getting Married Today" is much more tongue twisting and insane than that of Beth Howland's. And what to say about the ruling question: "Elaine Stritch or Sheila Gish?" Well, Stritch sounds like she's having the amount of fun she should be having on "The Little Things You Do Together," but Gish gets much more cynisim and hearlessness in "The Ladies of Lunch." Although, I should admit that her's will never go down in history like Stritch. This recording's "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" ties with the original, but Pamela Myers is at the top of the list with "Another Hundred People." And finally, to one of my favorite songs, "Poor Baby," each is different: London's version is as spooky as the song should be, but I am partial for the desperate, neurotic voices of Barbara Barrie and Terri Ralston. Basically, no matter which of the two you pick (although I highly suggest getting both), you won't go wrong. Oh, and just for the record, the opening number, Company, will never match the original.

Well, when I got the Original Broadway Recording of Company, I very nearly ate, drank, and breathed it for about a month. However, a week ago I got a hold of this recording. The play is done as it was originally concieved by Furth and Sondheim: thoughts in Bobby's head, or dreams. This makes the album far harder to listen to then the OBC; if you get too involved with this recording, it can be very scary or heartbreaking, though ultimately more rewarding. Many numbers which I had never thought of as nightmarish are done as nightmares - "What Would We Do Without You" is especially creepy. "Marry Me A Little" is a very nice addition to the score, and adds more insight into this Bobby, also different - in this version, he is played as someone who never really grew up, and still has illusions about love and relationships. "The Ladies Who Lunch" - well, it doesn't beat Stritch (noone ever will), but it comes damn near close. For anyone who has ever wondered what would happen if it was directed like "Sweeney Todd" or "Assassins", this is the definitive recording.

There's a reason this recording is out of print. It is, without a doubt, the worst recording of Company ever. Adrian Lester is so bad as Bobby; lifeless and monotonous. For the life of me I can't understand what anyone sees in him. The rest of the cast is pretty bad too, and the recording sounds like it was made in a stadium with odd acoustics that go in and out. The original Broadway cast is still the best, followed by the 1995 Broadway revival (Boyd Gaines is great), and then the bizarre 2006 Broadway revival (am I the only one who detests John Doyle's minimalist approach with the cast members playing the instruments???).

They don't get much better than this. Wonderful cast, beautifully recorded.

Yes, it's true that this recording is no match for the origianl, but the sheer energy with which both the band and singers perform marks it out from the Broadway revival recording a year earlier. All of the singers are excellent in their roles, although due to the CD booklet not containing any lyrics, it is diffucult to work out who is singing at times. That said, the music produced by the small band has energy in abundance, while still being slightly smoother than the original with less reliance on synths. Buy the original first, but follow it quickly with this one. This recording of one of Sondheim's best scores should have a place in every Sondheim collectors CD cabinet!

Perhaps the best things to be said about this debacle are that the orchestration recaptures the sound of the premiere production (unlike the tinny little band in the '95 Roundabout recording) and that Harry is an exceptionally strong vocal presence. The "Noo Yawk" accents are crassly overdone and Sheila Gish's tremulous, overinflected Joanne is like someone's notion of an Elaine Strich parody. Worst of all is Adrian Lester, the world's dullest actor and an inexplicable choice for Bobby. His thin, whiny non-voice is like fingernails on chalkboard and sinks this recording single-handed. Only for Sondheim completists and incurable masochists.

A uniformly excellent recording of this outstanding show. The song readings are so similar in general they don't merit comparison with two exceptions -

Dean Jones/Larry ___'s versions of Being Alive are much better - perhaps the song speaks to an American id; and
this version of Ladies Who Lunch does not have the hystrionics that Elaine Strich slops all over the American version, with better results, IMO.

Meanwhile, Company lovers, watch and wait with bated breath for the revised version (ala the recent Sweeney Todd with Patty LuPone - created by the same team, with SS's involvement) due on Broadway fall 2006. This show premiered in Cincinnati spring 2006 with Raul Esparza as Bobbie and a fine surrounding cast. I had the honor of seeing this production twice and was awed. The simpler, cleaner orchestrations let Sondheim's lyrics show to their best advantage without sacrificing any characterization and the cast knows to let themselves be instruments in the finest sense of the phrase.

My first choice (over the original Broadway cast - which is also very good). Splendid recording.

Just listened to Adrian Lester being dead. Worst "Being Alive" ever. Flat, dull, full range of emotions from A to B (thanks Pauline Kael)

Okay, it's hard to live up to the OBC of Company, widely considered one of the best cast albums of all time. But this disc doesn't come close, though it's not nearly as awful as the American revival. The problems lie mostly in the actors, who, despite being experienced professionals, sound like rank amateurs for the most part. (Adrian Lester is a notable exception.) As is all too typical of London versions of American musicals, their lines are forced and overacted, their musical phrasing is often peculiar, and their American accents are at times outright embarrassing. Sheila Gish is painful to hear; it's hard to understand why anyone would ask this woman to attempt to sing, as she clearly has a zero-note range. Maybe she was great onstage in the book scenes, but all we're left with here is her distinctly offkey snarling. This disc is really for Sondheim completists; if you're just beginning to explore his works, definitely get the original 1970 American cast disc first.