AMATEUR THEATRE REVIEW: Company - The Theatre, Manchester University Students' Union, Manchester.

The music of Stephen Sondheim is amongst the most well-known and celebrated in Musical Theatre, but be warned, it is also one of the hardest to intepret. The musical 'Company' from 1970, is just about as oblique as they get. First of all, it has no linear plot, but instead is a series of vignettes which focus on mid-life crisis, marriage, and all the 'baggage' that goes with it, through the eyes of a 35-year old single male. His friends, his colleagues, and even his own imaginations take wing, as we watch the formation and disintegration of married life in middle-class America at the time. More importantly however, is that the music has the beginnings of motifs, chord structures, passages and tonality for which Sondheim would later become famous and a master; this being his truly first 'great' show. Prior to this he had written the lyrics to 'West Side Story' and 'Gypsy', [so already established as a lyricist par excellence!], whilst composing only two musicals in his own right; 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum' and 'Evening Primrose'. These are not easy songs to sing; they don't fit comfortably on the singers' pallette the way a Richard Rodgers or Cole Porter song does; they need not only to be acted, performed, felt, but be also absolutely note and rhythm perfect too, otherwise they simply don't work. The second difficulty to overcome, is the fact that the majority of the characters in this musical are middle-aged, and all do come already with a lot of 'baggage' (to continue with that Americanism analogy). 

If I am honest, I don't think the cast this evening truly managed to carry this show off as well as it could have been. The age and experience of the cast for once did not work in their favour, and sadly, in some places in tonight's performance, it felt rather 'eggy' and underrehearsed. This was truly a shame, because the enthusiasm, dedication, and indeed talent within the company is obvious, but sometimes presenting a 'high energy', all-guns-firing blast of a show - like they did for their Harry Potter Musical, just isn't enough. 

The central character of Robert (Bobby) was Xavier Moras Spencer. He was Harry Potter too, and his characterisations for both parts were not dissimilar. I can certainly understand why he is a crowd-pleaser - with an audience composed of, by a vast majority, fellow university students; he is talented, self-deprecating, enigmatic, pleasing to watch, and has the ability to carry a show. Here he impressed with a tap routine, and some exellently placed sarcasm [the ending to 'Barcelona' was placed perfectly].

The absolute highlights of this evening's show were (in the order they were performed): 

1. "You Can Drive A Person Crazy" sung and danced with aplomb by Kathy (Esther Simkiss), April (Isobel Rust), and Marta (Casey Bell). This performance encapsulated perfectly the mood and feel of the original without it being copycat. The singing was secure and harmonies good, whilst the three different characters were able to impose their own characteristics onto their moments, and this, combined with wonderful choroegraphy, was supebly performed. 

2. "Getting Married Today" sung by Amy (Rosa Gatley), Paul (Rowan Wilson), and "choirgirl", whose name remains unknown to me. Normally during this song, Amy does not interact with the choirgirl at all, however, director Lauren Billingsley had ignored previous form and as the song progressed so the interaction between the two became more tactile and more frenetic - and thus all the more funny and powerful. The choirgirl had a lovely voice, and Gatley's enunciation was excellent. Very enjoyable.

3. "Side By Side"/"What Would We Do Without You". Full company, harmonies and dancing. Great opening to the second act with as already mentioned, some nice tap dancing from Spencer.

4. "Poor Baby", sung by the five married (or by now divorced) women friends of Robert. (Maya Blandy, Bella Finch, Ella Kendrick, Rosa Gatley, and Francesca Wolfin). The harmonies here were just stunning!

5. "The Ladies Who Lunch", performed by Francesca Wolfin. Forget what I mentioned esarlier about students in their early 20s not being able to age-up and perform middle-aged characters with any realism. Wolfin's studied performance in this whole vignette, but especially her song, was - and I wouldn't say this if I didn't mean it - one of the best interpretations of this song I have yet had the pleasure to witness. Utterly brilliant. 

There were a few mic / sound / band issues this evening, where the playback / speakers were not behaving properly, which was a pity; and also a few instances where the lighting design seemed to be either on / off at the wrong time, or didn't truly fit with the scene being performed. 

However, all my niggles to one side, the cast, to their ultimate credit, put their all into this show, and the performances were energetic, consistent, and enjoyable. I hesitate at using the word 'raw', but in context and for certain performances this can be very much a positive. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 24.3.22