“You’ll Need To Be Sitting Down For This One”: Emails Between Stephen Sondheim And Marianne Elliott Chronicle The Birth Of A 21st Century ‘Company’
deadline.comEditors Note: Company, the beloved 1970 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, has long been thought by many theater aficionados as, if not a perfect work, at least unimprovable, a masterwork in an unparalleled catalogue.But in 2016, British director Marianne Elliott had an idea — a series of ideas, actually — that would reimagine Company for a 21st century audience and challenge the 20th century’s towering stage musical genius to reconsider his approach.
The central character of Bobby, a 35-year-old bachelor, would become Bobbie, a 35-year-old woman. Another character, Amy, an archetypal nervous bride who sings one of the musical’s most memorable songs (“Getting Married Today”), would be gender-switched to Jamie, a gay man undergoing the same panicked jitters in a world newly liberated by gay marriage.Those and other changes in characters would reflect nearly 50 years of sea-change attitude shifts in gender conventions, sexuality and power dynamics and lead to a revised Company that would transfix audiences on London’s West End in 2018 and, three years later, Broadway.
Today, Elliott’s Broadway revival of Company stands nominated for nine 2022 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical; Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role/Musical (Matt Doyle, who plays Jamie); Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role/ Musical for both Patti LuPone, who plays Joanne, and Jennifer Simard, as Sarah; Best Scenic Design/Musical, Best Lighting Design/Musical, Best Orchestrations, Best Sound Design/Musical; and for Elliott, Best Direction/Musical.In this Deadline exclusive, some key early moments in the production’s development are chronicled in never-before-released email
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