Customer Reviews

Original Cast Album - Company [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a great idea: record the cast album for Stephen Sondheim's "Company" live, as it were--no overdubs, no artificial mixdown. What a great idea: get a documentary crew to record the record session. The filmmaker caught 15-and-a-half hours of bleary-eyed cast members giving their all for a tough record producer and an even tougher composer/lyricist. (It had to be one marathon session because it would be too expensive to assemble all those singers and musicians for multiple sessions.) This is a great documentary that shows how hard it all is. If you've only seen her on the incipid show "Alice," you'll have no idea how talented Beth Howland is till you see her in "Getting Married Today." Donna McKechnie, Susan Browning, and Pamela Myers spoof Rogers and Hart (and not the Andrew Sisters as everyone seems to think) with verve in "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," which also finds Sondheim at his most clever. Charles Kimbrough would go on to do Murphy Brown and Barbara Barrie would briefly be in Barney Miller, and both shine here as effortless, "natural" actors. Star Dean Jones is perfect as the slightly dopey Bobby, even if some of his singing will make you wince. What's perhaps most remarkable is that the numbers that sound so fresh and improvisational actually took 8, 10, 15 takes. Especially "The Ladies Who Lunch." Elaine Stritch's famous song was the last number they recorded. By the time they were ready, it was after four in the morning and everyone was exhausted. Stritch tries, but after about eight takes it's clear she's not going to make it that night. With everyone getting punchy, they decide to record her music track separately, bringing her back the next day to knock the song out of the park.

The DVD has a commentary track, as Stritch, Hal Prince and the filmmaker reminisce about the session 30 years later. There's also a strange feature where one of the songs not covered in the doc can be listened to over B&W stills from the theatrical production. This didn't do anything for me, but there's no harm in having it there, either.

So this is a very good documentary. But it could have been even better. Two of the most complex and interesting songs, the opening number and "Side By Side/What Would We Do Without You," are barely covered in the film. I really wanted to see how they pulled off these extraordinarily complex numbers with the complete cast "live," but the documentary doesn't show it. Too bad. A 90 minute documentary with this material would hae been so much better than a 60 minute documentary without. It's probably true the 60 minute limit was imposed by ABC, which originally aired the documentary, but I'd be surprised if the filmmaker didn't save material that could have been added back for this DVD.

Still, this is worth owning, if a little pricey for a 53 minute CD (not 58, as advertised on the case). In some ways this musical is a classic, and in others it's incredibly (and amusingly) dated. Both qualities just make it all the more wonderful.

If you care about musical theatre, then you will want to see this 1-hour condesation of the 18 1/2 hour recording session that yielded the original cast album of COMPANY.

This documentary will give you an idea of how much sweat goes into making these albums... usually done in one long day in a cramped recording studio. Once you see this documentary, you'll listen to the album in a totally different way. Watch Sondheim coach the singers: correct their pronunciations, or even correct notes they have changed over the weeks of performances. Best of all watch Elaine Stritch struggle to record "The Ladies Who Lunch" until exhaustion gets the better of her and she starts screaming back at her own playback. And yet ... and yet the final result is worth it! No other cast album documentary captures as much as this one.

A must for those who know that cast albums are NOT "soundtracks!"

This DVD is a valuable piece of Broadway history, as it documents the process involved in recording one of the landmark cast albums of all time, "Company". It is interesting to see the mechanics involved, naturally, but what sticks with you is the determination of these tired actors (they recorded on the Sunday after opening night, their day off) to get a permanent record of this brilliant, groundbreaking musical. It's fun to watch them subtly interact as if on stage.

It's also touching to see these actors as they looked thirty-four years ago-- Barbara Barrie before her harrowing cancer battle, Beth Howland and Charles Kimbrough before sitcom fame, Elaine Stritch before England, marriage, widowhood, and beating alcoholism. The intriguing backstage story of lead actor Dean Jones' impending departure from the show is still moving; his misery over a crumbling marriage back in California led to a deal with director Harold Prince to bring the show into New York-- then to leave the role to Larry Kert.

Certainly there are some wonderful performances captured here (Dean Jones, Teri Ralston's silvery vocals, Beth Howland's hysterical patter song, Pamela Myer's run through of what may be the greatest song written about New York, "Another Hundred People"). But the centerpiece is indeed Elaine Stritch's struggle to get a good track down of what she has called her "three-act play", "The Ladies Who Lunch". On that memorable first night, her fatigue gets the better of her and nuance gives way to angry shouting. Her eyes, wide and wild with exhaustion, tell volumes. Her quiet, dignified exit to get rest while the orchestra records the backing track is pure theatre. And her triumphant return to the studio to nail the perfect take (indeed, the film documents the take that actually made the album) thrills. She must have known this would be "the one", as she made sure her hair was done and her makeup perfect (down to full false eyelashes)-- she looks beautiful and sounds spectacular. Stritch's present-day commentary protests that she had a matinee later that day, hence the full stage face. Whatever the reason, her tough-as-nails beauty shines.

The DVD's extras add a fun commentary (by Pennebaker, Hal Prince and a typically feisty Stritch) and photos from the original production-- I wish they had added more!

This is very much worth it if you are a student of theatre history or of theatre music.

Nearly every aspect of theatre has been written about and documented extensively, yet the production of cast recordings has sadly received short shrift.

Though this documentary following the recording of the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company is over thirty years old, it still feels fresh and important. While you shouldn't buy this expecting to hear all the great tunes from the show (that's what the cast recording itself is for), if you want the inside story on how it was put together--filled with as much humor, drama, and tension as a play itself--then you have to check this out. Though the most thrilling (and harrowing) segment deals with Elaine Stritch's struggle with her big solo, "The Ladies Who Lunch," this recording grips the imagination and is a vital historical record of a fascinating and important musical from the 1970s.

If you love theatre, particularly musicals, this should be required viewing.

For anyone who is a fan of musical theater or Sondheim in particular, this is a stunningly brilliant slice of that world, and a must-buy. Seeing a young Sondheim interact with and coach the singers during the recording session is worth the price by itself. But you'll also enjoy the wonderful Elaine Stritch peform and struggle with 'Ladies who Lunch', along with Dean Jones, Donna McKechnie in her prime, and the rest of the brilliant cast. I saw 'Company' four times, and this brought those experiences all back.

As a record of musical theatre, this DVD is invaluable. As the main review notes it shows the intensity of the performances during this marathon recording and filming session. It is unfortunate that the (then new) technique of 'cinema verite' using hand-held cameras was used to record this session. The result is terrible. The camera operaters seem as if they have just learned to use their cameras: they overuse the zoom effect to the extent that it becomes distracting; a great deal of footage is painfully out of focus; at times they film apparently unrelated action. The transfer to DVD is not great. There is a lot of 'dirt' apparent for most of the film. However, the music lives, as do the performances of the cast, especially that of Elaine Stritch. Interesting to see the pre-computerized methods of recording music. Definitely a DVD to own if you are an afficionado of Musical Theatre. It's like having a piece of history in your DVD player. Note: interesting how many people smoked back then. It seems like everyone 'lights-up' while on the job. One singer even has a cigarette in his hand while he is performing.

Adding to what others have already said, this record of producing a record of a Broadway show is remarkable. It blew me away, as they say. There's no people like show people - and here they are. Fabulous, nervy, talented beyond belief. Stritch doing and re-doing "Ladies Who Lunch" is very good, but the moment for me was Dean Jones singing "Being Alive". He sings with such heart felt emotion. It moved me to tears. This show is all about New Yorkers, and this song brought back to me the memory of so many New York friends, from that time in the 1970's who are no longer with us. This was their world, a city of strangers, and Sondheim captured it so magnificently. A masterpiece if ever there was one.

Company is, to say the least, an unusual show. What is it, really? Certainly a brilliant musical, by Stephen Sondheim. But it's taken a very special place in Broadway Lore, thanks in great part to the Cast Album that was recorded in front of D.A. Pennebaker's cameras.

If you're an aficionado of Broadway, you already know a lot about Sondheim. So, it's fascinating to see the young composer coaching his singers and consulting with the recording engineers during this marathon session from 1971.

It's a truly exciting and vibrant look at the process, shot entirely hand-held, with raw focusing and close ups on the vocalists. The performances are for the microphones, not the lenses, so you see quite a few candid moments throughout the evening, and this gives the film a heightened intensity, and even moreso because the whole thing runs just under an hour.

Still, if you have played and played the cast album, it's very refreshing to see the alternate takes shown here. Dean Jones emoting on "Being Alive" is as incredible a performance as you'll ever view, and Elaine Stritch's "Ladies Who Lunch" recording is the lynchpin on which this whole film is hung.

My only complaint about this DVD is the "commentary" track. Granted, this commentary track was done particularly well. Some statements were clearly scripted, like the ones that filmmaker Pennebaker makes at the opening. Also commenting are Hal Prince, Broadway Director extraordinaire, who has some interesting insights and Elaine, the superstar diva, just being her gabby self. They carefully drop comments in where it doesn't take away from the original interview moments in the film, and there's a minimum of rambling, which is all too typical of such tracks on other DVDs.

But the fact is, this commentary track should have been a complete and separate interview section, perhaps gathering a few more of the participants, and sitting them down in a room for a chat. It would have been another chance for Pennebaker to roll more film in revisiting this alchemical moment in time. Ah well, there's very little to complain about here!

If you're even mildly interested in documentary filmmaking, Broadway shows, Cast Albums or Sondheim, you know what you must do: Get this disc!

Highly Recommended!

If you have a collection of original cast albums and have ever wondered what goes on the day the show is recorded this fascinating documentary tells it all.
D A Pennebaker spent 18 hours with the cast, musicians and recording crew commiting the recording of the show to film.
On May 3, 1970 they all convened on Columbia Records 30th Street Studios in New York. Elaine Stritch's recording "The Ladies Who Lunch" is a fascinating and frightening event. It truly captures what a great talent Stritch is.
There is commentary on the DVD that is quite interesting. Additional footage is included along with the problems Dean Jones, the shows star, was having in his life. Elaine Stritch has also supplied her recollections on that day 30 years ago.
I highly recommend this.

If you like Broadway, if you like Stephen Sondheim (or even if you don't), if you like behind-the-scenes looks at show business, you'll probaby like this DVD. It's a documentary of how the original cast recording of Company was put together a few days after the show opened in New York.

All one Sunday and through 4 a.m. Monday the tracks were rehearsed, changed, critiqued, redone until with one exception the record was finished. The exception was Elaine Stritch's recording of the big song from the show, "The Ladies Who Lunch." It's a dramatic show stopper, and Stritch just couldn't nail it. All the other cast members had been dismissed, so it was just Stritch, the orchestra, and the recording and creative teams. The more takes they took, the more flaccid her performance became and more tired her voice sounded. This section alone on the DVD is high drama. (They finally recorded the orchestra track and had her come back two days later--when she did nail it, to everyone's relief.)

The program takes less than an hour and there's no voice over (unless you access a fairly interesting interview made 30 years later by Stritch, Harold Prince, the show's Broadway director, and Pennebaker). You move from song to song seeing how adjustments were made, how help was given, how nuances became highly important. Interspersed are snippets of discussion by Sondheim and Prince of how the show came about.

Everyone was acutely aware that they were making the permanent recording of the show's score. The stress, no matter how professional the actors were, had to have been incredible. There's Dean Jones with a fairly brittle voice who was probably chosen for the lead because of his movie name recognition. He clearly looks uncomfortable throughout. At one point the recording supervisor, Thomas Z. Shephard, says to him, "You're very good and I don't want to spoil something that's potentially marvelous..." Uh oh. Pamela Meyers was a young singer in her first Broadway show with a big song to perform, "Another Hundred People." She looks a bit like Brigitte Jones. Sondheim works with her to get a single note where it should be. She is so serious listening to him and he takes the time to be gentle with her. And there's Stritch, an actress who seems unable to turn it off. She draws the center of attention to her just enough to be noticeable. Most things tend to be dramatic with her, and her struggle with "Ladies" is as much self-involved as it is her aiming for excellence.

I'm not one of those who thinks a great deal of Company as a show. I've seen it on Broadway and two or three times in rep. It's a musical about marriage and relationships and the inability to commit...or rather, it's a story about relationships and marriage amongst rather superficial upper-East Side New Yorkers. Those are easy targets and the point of view gets, for me, a little tiresome. But the songs are great, and the show was exciting and different when it opened.

As I said, if you like Broadway musicals, Steven Sondheim, and behind-the-scenes looks, you'll probably get a kick out of this.