Chaps join Company for a sex switch revival
Some of the company in the musical Company have switched sex.
Long ago, this page revealed that rosalie Craig will star in a gender-altered version of the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth show. the main role of 35- year- old bachelor Bobby has become Bobbi.
marianne elliott, who’s directing Company, observed that when it originally opened back in 1970, ‘this very attractive young man is deciding whether he should emulate his married friends and get married’.
‘nowadays we’d be going: “You don’t need to get married — enjoy your life!”’ the award-winning elliott told me. ‘ But if you’re a 35- year- old woman and you’re successful and you have a career and you don’t have a permanent boyfriend or a husband, all your friends are saying: “You’ve got five years left. Sort it out!”’
in previous productions of Company, Bobby had a trio of girlfriends: april, marta and Kathy.
now, they’re boyfriends: andy, PJ, and theo played, respectively, by richard Fleeshman ( Guys and Dolls, Ghost the musical and Call the midwife); George Blagden (Louis XiV in Versailles) and matthew Seadon-Young (Billy elliot and Beautiful).
elliott said she and business partner Chris harper, who together own elliott & harper Productions spent months casting the parts. ‘ the gender switches had to be perfectly right,’ she said, adding: ‘they have to act really well, and sing and move well.’ and look good, too. Fleeshman’s andy is a flight attendant. ‘ Bobbi probably picked him up on a flight. andy admits that his brains are not the most impressive thing about him. he’s a sweetheart and the one she goes to bed with,’ elliott told me.
‘Stephen Sondheim said that andy’s really like a brilliant chorus line dancer. not a huge amount upstairs but a beautiful body.’ Bobbi and andy get to duet on one of Sondheim’s most famous numbers, Barcelona.
Seadon-Young’s theo plays the beau who’s a perfect match for Bobbi but, in a painful encounter, tells her he’s marrying someone else.
Blagden’s PJ is a posh British guy living in new York, and gets to sing another favourite: another hundred People. elliott and Sondheim exchange emails daily about lyric changes. not wholesale, but a word here and there.
Book writer Furth died a decade ago and his work stands — apart from lines selected from the many past productions, and gender changes involving Bobbi and two of the couples.
Forinstance, richard henders plays David. in past shows he was a businessman. now he’s a househusband while his wife Jenny (played by Jennifer Saayeng), previously a stayathome spouse, has become the breadwinner .
other actors joining the already cast Patti LuPone as acerbic Joanne, and mel Giedroyc as Sarah, include Ben Lewis as Joanne’s trophy husband (hedgefund manager Larry); Gavin Spokes as harry (married to Giedroyc’s Sarah); and ashley Campbell as Peter.
other roles remain to be cast. the show will rehearse from august 6 and begin performances at the Gielgud theatre on September 26.