Tally Sessions of “Company”
Season 1 Episode 7 | 3m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Tally Sessions, an understudy in the new production of Stephen Sondheim's "Company"
Tally Sessions, a Broadway veteran and an understudy in the new production of Stephen Sondheim's "Company," talks about the experience of performing in a unique revival of the musical theater classic.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
We Are Broadway is a local public television program presented by WLIW PBS
Tally Sessions of “Company”
Season 1 Episode 7 | 3m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Tally Sessions, a Broadway veteran and an understudy in the new production of Stephen Sondheim's "Company," talks about the experience of performing in a unique revival of the musical theater classic.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch We Are Broadway
We Are Broadway is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThe thing about being an artist of any kind, I imagine, is that, unlike some other occupations, it's part of who you are.
So I think a lot of us had to reckon with, Well if I'm an artist, who am I when I'm not practicing my art, when I'm not allowed to practice my art?
Phone rings, door chimes, in comes company!
My name is Tally Sessions, and I am a standby in Company.
I cover the roles of Harry, Peter, Larry and P.J.. Late nights, quick bites, party games, deep talks, long walks, telephone calls A standby is an off-stage understudy that covers principal roles in a show.
They do the show when they're called upon.
It could happen 15 minutes before a show, in the middle of a show.
So they don't regularly appear in the performance every night.
The key of being like a really great understudy or swing or standby is that if not for that little slip of paper falling out of your program, you should never know that an understudy is on.
Because that's how seamless it should be and most often is.
So a person could be had.
People that swing in and save the day, especially in the midst of a pandemic and this current surge, they're the lifes blood of our industry, truly.
Bobby is my hobby and I'm giving it up.
Someone is waiting, sweet as David, It was very mysterious, you know.
I think like many people in the country and certainly in our industry, they're like, Wait, what is this?
It's a virus and we're going to close down for a few weeks?
Ok.
The reality of it and what it was doing to our industry, how it had decimated it became very stark.
Because so much of what we do is predicated on a thousand people getting together, a thousand strangers sitting next to each other.
And that's difficult to do when you're dealing with an airborne virus in a pandemic.
Good and crazy people, your friends.
These good and crazy people, your married friends.
The coolest thing about our first preview was this palpable experience of gratitude.
The audience was so grateful to be there.
We were so grateful to have them there.
There is still an immense amount of thankfulness for getting to do it, 'cause as we know, in March of 2020, it can be taken away like that.
And to get to walk in this building and to be an artist and to articulate yourself as an artist every day is a true luxury and certainly not something that I'll ever take for granted.
Company!
We are Broadway.
Support for PBS provided by:
We Are Broadway is a local public television program presented by WLIW PBS