Review: COMPANY, Gielgud Theatre

Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Marianne Elliott, ushering in a new age of adaptation with her. Almost 50 years since it opened on Broadway, Company returns to the West End. Reworked, though respectful of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's original material, this hopefully opens the door for more reimaginings with love filling the London stage.

Bobbie is successful, happy and happily single. As her married friends wish her well on her 35th birthday, their questions are the gifts which keep on giving: when is she going to settle down? Get married? Have kids?

In the 1970s, Bobby was a 35-year-old single man. In 2018, Bobbie is now a 35-year-old single woman. This is not a gimmick, nor has it been done on a whim. Elliott's vision has been in development for two years, refining the concept and working side by side with Sondheim.

Those questions from his friends worried Bobby in the Seventies. To women in 2018, they sing out so much more. Set against Joel Fram's incessant beat, Bobbie's biological clock could not be ticking any louder. Both the audience and Bobbie watch as they see these anxieties played out on stage, with Bobbie imagining her life post-marriage and post-baby in "Tick Tock".

These stresses run throughout the production, inescapable. The big 3-5 quite literally looms over her in the form of a balloon, and pressure comes from all sides in the opening scene. Each couple make their way to the party, some from the wings, some from the audience. The effect: Bobbie is boxed in, quite literally in Bunny Christie's set.

A cube signifies Bobbie's living room, where her party takes place. Though initially large, the room soon fills with her friends, voices and questions. As we meet each of the couples and follow their lives, more boxes come forward bringing their stories with them. Christie's framing of the piece feels symbolic of the boxes society places individuals in: you are married, you are single, you are divorced.

Balloons too big and doors too small, Christie and Elliott evoke a fitting reference: Alice in Wonderland. As Bobbie starts to see the cracks in the relationships of "Those good and crazy people, [Bobbie's] married friends", and they regard her as "deeply maladjusted, never to be trusted, crazy person [herself]", truly they are "all mad here".

Liam Steel's choreography is ordered chaos in this world. Almost as frantic as the beat which drives the action, "Side by Side" seeing people crossing paths, dancing around each other and the issues. Every movement here is precise and paced. Worked into the choreography are illusions from Chris Fisher, my favourite being a pop-up priest.

Other changes to the original include the neurotic Amy becoming Jamie, and Bobby's beaus becoming Bobbie's boyfriends. These changes are refreshing and relevant - grooms-to-be Jamie and Paul debating just because they can get married, should they? The Andrew Sisters-style "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" also translates beautifully into a barbershop trio.

A side effect of the gender swaps means some of the songs are swapped: the girls now sing "Have I Got a Boy For You", swiping through their eligible bachelors. The boys deliver a decidedly more creepy "Poor Baby", watching as Andy hooks up with Bobbie after some extended pillow talk - Andy proving to be a cunning linguist...

Appropriately, this truly is a 'Company' of actors. It's the little things they do together that make you appreciate their characters and relationships. Rosalie Craig brings the theatre alive as Bobbie. The very definition of a woman done with society, her Bobbie is bold and brazen in her disbelief at the world around her. Craig is careful not to be too cold though, with sincere love for everyone and everything, except "Barcelona".

Everybody rise for Patti LuPone. Having played the role in a concert version before, her very "Mhmm"s are imbued with the scathing scorn of a world-wise and weary woman, Joanne. I felt as personally attacked by the "girls who just watch" lines as Bobbie, such is her connection to the audience.

In his first Sondheim, Jonathan Bailey takes on "Getting Married Today" and wins. Bailey uses this song to set himself up for the following scene, as Jamie is lost for breath at the stress of getting married, though not for words. Perfectly paired is Alex Gaumond as the patient Paul, an endearing smile permanently plastered on his face, stuck as firmly at the sticky notes of love he leaves around the apartment for Jamie.

Audiences are now accustomed to changes of classical texts such as Shakespeare. Elliott's brave production takes bold steps into showing such adaptations should not be limited to plays, but musicals too.

Company at the Gielgud Theatre until 30 March, 2019

Read our interview with Jonathan Bailey and Alex Gaumond

Photo credit: Brinkhoff/Moegenburg

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