A Pleasant Afternoon’s Company
Posted By Kathleen David on April 10, 2011
This was one of those “once in a lifetime” chances to see a group of people perform a show that will probably never happen again. We had heard that Neil Patrick Harris was going to be in a concert version of Stephen Soundheim’s “Company.” That sounded interesting. Then we heard that Patti LuPone would be in it which made it more interesting. Then we heard that Stephen Colbert was in it and that made it a must see for us. We were one of the lucky ones who found out about this show very early on so we got tickets. Apparently a couple of hours after we got tickets, it sold out on the first day of sales.
So yesterday we dropped Caroline off with her sister Gwen and she spent a very pleasant day with her older sister and Peter and I went over to Lincoln Center and Avery Fisher Hall to see “Company.” We had lunch at PJ Clarke’s across from Lincoln Center where I had a very fine burger. There was one small accident with a glass breaking. I got hit above the eye with a piece of glass that nicked me but didn’t do damage. Just felt weird. They took some money off the bill because they felt bad about what happened.
We got to our seats and settled in for a fine afternoon’s musical theater.
It really was one of those Once in a Lifetime performances. Neil Patrick Harris was suave as Bobby (the lead). We didn’t know until we opened the program that John Cryer was in the cast too. We did know that Anika Noni Rose (Tiana in Princess and the Frog and recently seen on “the Good Wife”) was part of the cast. But we had so many other nice surprises in the cast. People we had seen in other shows over the years and enjoyed their previous work a lot so we knew we were in for a solid performance.
And they didn’t disappoint us in the least. Stephen had the least theater street cred since everyone seems to not remember he was part of the Second City troupe in Chicago and he did very well. It was very well cast. The songs in Company are pretty typical for Soundheim and can be difficult to sing. Katie Finneran did a really good job with “Getting Married Today,” which is probably his hardest patter song that he ever wrote. Anika Noni Rose gave us a very different way to sing “Another Hundred People” which has become my favorite interpretation of what can be a very angry song, which she made almost a love letter about living in New York. And of course Patti LuPone knocked “The Ladies Who Lunch” out of the park reminding everyone why she is Patti LuPone.
Of course Neil Patrick Harris was brilliant. He even got some magic tricks into “Side by Side by Side”. The guys did great with “Sorry-Grateful”. Again a great cast doing great things backed up by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The set was a series of chairs and couches on wheels that were moved around in a lovely dance of furniture. It was a clever way to make so many different rooms for a concert.
We came out smiling after seeing a good afternoon of theater. Now when we were in PJ Clarke’s, we saw a picture of what looked like to us a very young Fyvush Finkel holding a CBS microphone. No one could tell us if it was what we thought it was. Coming out of the theater Peter and I saw a man who looked exactly like Mr. Finkel. And it was Mr. Finkel. Peter got the answer to his question from the man himself. Yes, that was his picture in PJ Clarke’s. We chatted about the show we just saw and New York theater in general. It was one of those New York moments that just kind of happen here.
I am grateful that we went and saw “Company” in such good company.
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