Revival of 'Company' works, most of the time

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NEW YORK -- It seemed like a great idea: Bring a classic Stephen Sondheim musical back to Broadway, with John Doyle, who directed last season's acclaimed Sweeney Todd, on board.

But while Doyle's new Company (***) has a number of elements to recommend it, the whole is less than the sum of its considerable parts.

That's a shame, because in many ways, Sondheim and librettist George Furth's 1970 study of love, marriage and perpetual bachelorhood seemed a more natural fit for Doyle's minimalist approach, which requires actors to double as musicians. However fascinating his Sweeney was, fans may have missed Jonathan Tunick's original orchestrations, which served the show's glorious score to lush perfection.

Company's individual songs are just as scrumptious, but more readily accommodate bare-bones arrangements; and for this production, which opened Wednesday at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, musical supervisor Mary-Mitchell Campbell has fashioned a string of witty, winning ones.

As the chronically single Bobby observes one of several married couples he counts as friends, the oft-wed Joanne leads a sly The Little Things You Do Together, punctuating lyrics by banging on a glass.

Bobby's girlfriends toot saxophones to similar effect in a giddy You Could Drive a Person Crazy, while classics such as Another Hundred People and Barcelona are delivered with grace and buoyancy.

But the show as a whole has not aged as well as its music, at least not judging by this interpretation (which also draws on 1995 productions). For all their elegant ennui and implied sexual quirks, Company's urban sophisticates seem very much like the pre-baby boomers they technically are. Having them saunter around in Ann Hould-Ward's dark, sleek costumes, flirting and fighting and drinking and smoking, Doyle lends a tone of self-conscious pseudo-hipness.

Raul Esparza's vaguely smart-alecky Robert doesn't help. Though smart and attractive, he lacks the charisma that draws Company's protagonist to women and men.

Others fare better. Barbara Walsh's dry, haunted Joanne is a standout, bringing an extra layer of rage to Sondheim's brilliant barbfest The Ladies Who Lunch. Heather Laws and Elizabeth Stanley amuse as neurotic Amy and dizzy April.

Not everyone in Company's company manages to transcend the chinks in this imperfect but intriguing production. Still, like one of Bobby's fleeting lovers, this crowd is worth spending an evening with.

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