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"COMPANY"
Premieres on February 20, 2008 on PBS (check local listings)
ESSAY
"COMPANY" AND THE CONCEPT MUSICAL
By Thomas Hischak
"What is a "concept musical"? Difficult to define, and consequently even harder to trace historically, this form of stage musical has sometimes been described as any show that is bold and original in some aspect. A better definition might be any musical that puts as much importance on the unique manner of its presentation as on its content. Concept musicals tend to be less linear and more thematic than the usual fare, which suggests that the plays and musicals by Bertolt Brecht might be the source of the genre. Looking specifically at Broadway, many point to "Lady in the Dark" (1940) as the granddad of the concept musical. The show was highly expressionistic and took a psychological approach to characters; the plot was secondary in importance. "Allegro" (1947) was a less successful musical, but one that also used a bold method of telling a rather conventional story. "Love Life" (1948), another box-office disappointment, may be the best candidate for the first concept musical; it disregarded the traditional use of time, interrupted its action with jolting vaudeville numbers that commented on the story, and even tried to illustrate sociological ideas by paralleling them to a long-term personal relationship. "Anyone Can Whistle" (1964) was so disarming in its presentation and "Hallelujah, Baby!" (1967) was so all-encompassing in its scope that they have also been pointed out as fledging concept shows. The allegorical "Celebration" (1969) was similarly offbeat and unconventional; the fact that all three shows failed at the box office also indicates something conceptual about them.
Wherever it may have come from, the concept musical truly arrived with "Company" (1970), which managed to be palatable to audiences even as it broke just about every rule of musical comedy. "Company" was expressionistic and psychological, it played around with time and place, and it was unabashedly contemporary. The show was successful in its own right, but more importantly, it opened doors for similarly adventurous musicals: "A Chorus Line" (1975), "Nine" (1982), "Assassins" (1990), "Tommy" (1993), "Seussical" (2000) "Movin' Out" (2002), "Spring Awakening" (2006), and others. Some of the techniques of the concept musical would work their way into even traditional, escapist Broadway musicals, such as "Barnum" (1980), "The Will Rogers Follies" (1991), "Jersey Boys" (2005), and "Tarzan" (2006). One never knows when the effects of the concept musical will pop up again; its unpredictability and tendency to surprise are among its strongest characteristics.
Were George Furth, the author of the book for "Company," and Stephen Sondheim, its composer-lyricist, aware that they were creating a concept musical? The show started as a series of short playlets about New Yorkers that Furth envisioned as a nonmusical piece. Producer-director Harold Prince saw them as a musical even though there was no through plotline. The character of Bobby was a unifying element thematically and was in most of the scenes, but there still was no traditional story. By the time the musical was finished, scenes overlapped in an expressionistic manner. Characters who had never met each other appeared on the stage at the same time. Past memories and regrets combined with the present and they all were part of the whole collage. Prince staged the musical unconventionally as well. The action took place on different levels and various locales sometimes merged on scenic designer Boris Aronson's sculpturelike setting that used steel, Plexiglas, and projections. Michael Bennett choreographed, and although there were few conventional dances as such, the whole show moved like a frantic urban ballet. Even the costumes were conceptual; each character wore only one defining costume throughout the performance: wedding dress for Amy, stewardess's uniform for April, and so on. But a concept musical is more than just a conceptual presentation.
Top banner photo: Elizabeth Stanley, Kelly Jeanne Grant, and Angel Desai from "Company." (credit: Joe Sinnott -- Thirteen/WNET)
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photo: Angel Desai as Marta (credit: Joe Sinnott -- Thirteen/WNET)
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