Much more grateful than sorry

I grabbed a student rush ticket (yes, I keep my college ID for such occasions) for "Company" tonight. Although I know virtually every song from the show, I had never actually seen a production of it before tonight, so I was a little apprehensive that it might lose something with the John Doyle actor/musician approach. Fortunately, that wasn't the case at all. In fact, I think the convention worked better than it did in "Sweeney Todd." Overall, the production didn't quite have the strength of its Doyle/Sondheim predecessor. Still, it was enough to convince me that Doyle is not a one-trick pony.

Most of the cast members are making their Broadway debuts in the production, and there does seem to be a bit of polish missing from some of the performances, be they the fault of blandness or charicature. Still, I'm talking about a minority, and there are certainly a few shining players among the neophytes. Angel Desai is a knockout as the gregarious Marta and delivers "Another Hundred People" with enough zest almost to erase the memory of Pamela Myers' original interpretation. Elizabeth Stanley is another standout as another of Bobby's girlfriends, April, and her duet "Barcelona" along with her monologue leading up to it is one of the best moments of the show. So is the "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" trio with Desai, Stanley and Kelly Jeanne Grant (as the third girlfriend, Kathy), where the three girls bleat a furious saxophone flourish at the end of each phrase. Never in "Sweeney Todd" was the line between instrument and actor so delightfully blurred.

Broadway veteran Barbara Walsh, as the acid-tongued and vodka-soaked Joanne, has the impossible task of performing in Elaine Stritch's shadow. Other than the cast recording and the other innumerable instances of Stritch singing "The Ladies Who Lunch," I didn't have that comparison to make, so I found a lot to appreciate in her performance. I still couldn't get Stritch's voice out of my head every time she sang, but that was probably just my problem.

But it's Raul Esparza who makes this show worth seeing. I had long wondered what the fuss surrounding him was about, because the only show I had ever seen him in was "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." Now I know. His charming presence and gorgeous voice anchored the show, all building to an absolutely heartbreaking "Being Alive." It was almost cruel to subject a single person in New York to it.

Perhaps it's because the cast is a bit bigger and the instrumental selection is more diverse, but the orchestrations sounded much richer than they did in "Sweeney Todd," which at times sounded to me like a piano accompaniment with a few trumpet bleats here and there. "Side by Side by Side" sounds like there's a full pit in the theatre with the entire ensemble--except Esparza, who appropriately plays no instrument (not counting a few seconds with a kazoo) until his final epiphany.

Yes, the Doyle convention will get old if we start seeing it every season, but I was glad to be a guest at this party. Even if Patti LuPone and her tuba were a no-show.