Sondheim's Songs Serenade Spring Season!

Sondheim on Company: An interview from the BBC
with Sondheim and Sam Mendes

We have begun a sensational season of Sondheim -- Stephen Sondheim, the master of Boradway musicals for the past half-century.
Over the weekend we scurried up to Manhattan for one of the four exclusive performances of Sondheim's 1970 musical, Company with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.
Following five couples and their friend Robert (Neil Patrick Harris), the perpetual bachelor, Company explores "the true meaning of being in a relationship through a series of vignettes."
But, let's face it -- the show is really about marriage and its often tortuous twists and turns. And, as Sondheim himself explains it's also about commitment, lack of commitment and/or fear of commitment.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, Company was a sensation in 1970 when it opened and it continues to be debated all these many years later. Does it really take such a jaundiced view of marriage? Or is it realistic but nonetheless hopeful?
Said to be the Broadway's first "concept musical," Company is largely an ensemble piece that has no clear plot or linear story progression. What it does have is great dialogue, memorable characters, incredible music and lyrics, an unforgettable urban pulse, wit, irony and an enigmatic central figure who remains a source of endless debate, curiosity and fascination.
Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Rent) led an all-star cast at this sold out event. And there was no small number of notables in the audience at Lincoln Center. Sitting next to us was the noted author and screenwriter Nora Ephron and we also spotted actress Barbara Barrie (one of the original Company stars) and Chris Elliott (who co-starred with Patti Lupone in the TV series Get A Life) in the orchestra.
Conducted by the great Paul Gemigniani, this production also feartured the legendary Patti Lupone, Craig Bierko, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Katie Finneran and Aaron Lazar.
Of  particular note: Lupone knockin 'em dead in The Ladies Who Lunch (she stole the second act) and Finneran dazzling the audience with the rapid-fire I'm Not Gettin Married (Today). Harris was mature, appropriately enigmatic and just-this-side-of-charming as Bobby while Colbert surprised us with his deft portrayal of Harry and Lazar proved notably appealing as Paul.
It was an evening we will long remember!
BTW: We saw the original Broadway production of Company with Dean Jones and Elaine Stritch and then enjoyed the Kennedy Center revival many years later with Brit standouts John Barrowman and Elaine Paige.
To be sure: These were three distinctly different productions. But a landmark original like Company (a show that forever changes the climate and direction of Broadway) is hard to top.