Last night I penetrated the black heart of London's east end to see Company. It was good. Sure, the show's theme seemed a bit dated to me. The perverse preoccupation with Getting Married did start to wear thin, ( hey, if you want to do, if you don't, then don't, was my no doubt naive reaction ) but I was surprised at how many of the songs I knew. It was very well-staged, and the American accents only lapsed every now and again. A cast of 14 and an orchestra of 8 is unusual in such a small, fringe setting. Nothing wrong with that, I say. Better spend 10 quid and be able to see and hear the singers sans microphone, then spent thirty quid for some seat behind a woman with a hat at the back of the stalls in some mausoleum in the West End.
Talking of which, I remember seeing this with Adrian Lester back in 1996. I enjoyed this one a whole heap more.
And of course, for all P-P aficianados there is the divine Kim Sheard, proving once again that she is the finest chanteuse to come out of Canada since the singing skeleton herself, Celine Dion.
So, go see. It ends on Saturday.
The beer's good too. I had a pint of Cornish.
Yes, Anthea and I saw this show and agreed that it was worth seeing for Kim's performance which was great. As for the rest, I find the Sondheim plots very dull, this one in particular, and the late start put me in an unreceptive mood. However I applaud the energy of the cast: some of the numbers were almost good enough to save the show.
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