A Note from the Director...Lisa Pratt
My relationship with Company started when I was eight years old. That may sound young when it relates to a show of this stature and maturity, but my mom's original soundtrack album (on vinyl of course) became my escape, sitting on the floor of our dining room (where the turntable lived) in Ann Arbor, MI, I memorized every word of every song, singing over the vocals and acting out musical numbers at my parents' dinner parties. Fast forward 50 years, and Company has become mine to create.
The feeling I have about this show has now gone beyond a fascination with the music and lyrics. It's more like awe. Or, almost…disbelief. Because enjoying Sondheim as an audience member or even as a performer is one thing. But when one is awarded the task of shepherding a cast and creative team through the process of interpreting this Stephen Sondheim creation, one becomes aware of how brilliantly talented and insanely smart Sondheim really is. I have felt a monumental responsibility to try to honor his genius and passion.
Luckily, because 50 years have passed since Company was first produced, and it is a Tony Award-winning musical that revolutionized the art form, a wealth of information has been published – interviews, analysis, and even Sondheim’s own reflections. I have read them, becoming both overwhelmed and enlightened, excited and scared. And the most invaluable realization that I came to is that no matter how innovative and complicated this show is as an art form, or how deeply and extensively the cast and I have analyzed each scene, or how confoundingly obtuse the main character might seem to be, what lies beneath all of it is stunning simplicity: Company is a story about a man reflecting, or, as Sondheim puts it, “the story of what happens inside Robert." So telling a human story should be simple. If we believe that Sondheim, George Furth, and Hal Prince already took care of the complicated business of deciding HOW the story would be told, then we are left to tell it. The weight and import of that responsibility has taken me at times two steps forward and one step back, but only because of our combined desire to do our very best job in telling you Mr. Sondheim's quite simple human story. One that has not only survived 50 years, but one that is as alive and relevent today as it was then.
Directing Company has been the most exhilaratingly challenging artistic experience I have had thus far, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to collaborate with our brilliant cast and creative team to share Company with you.
