Topic: IN COMES COMPANY (Read 22924 times)

Sam · « **Reply #30 on:** June 19, 2013, 05:30:32 AM »

Good Morning.

Glorious Wednesday vibes everyone.

Sam · « **Reply #31 on:** June 19, 2013, 05:30:43 AM »

Ginny · « **Reply #32 on:** June 19, 2013, 05:31:06 AM »

TOD - my first Sondheim was probably the movie version of GYPSY. On stage, it was a COMPANY tour that came through Ann Arbor when I was in college, in which Tandy Cronyn played Amy. In NYC, I've seen A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM, SWEENEY TODD (closing performance with Dorothy Louden as Mrs. Lovett) and the original SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE.

I've seen FORUM twice, most recently at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park, and longer ago as the opening production at our local dinner theatre La Comedia. Our very own DR Elmore was in that cast!

Kerry · « **Reply #33 on:** June 19, 2013, 05:35:37 AM »

Sending out vibes to everyone-- because it's Wednesday, and you just never know when you'll need them.

Druxy · « **Reply #34 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:04:36 AM »

TODAY'S RANT:

I just read in the morning paper that WOODSON BLASE, a warrant officer from Leander, TX, shot a THERAPY DOG...in its own back yard. And, as is often the case, he had come to the wrong house. (Thankfully, the dog is expected to survive...though it will be lame.)

It seems like almost every day I'm reading about some cop shooting somebody's pet dog. What is the matter with police these days?

I have always respected the police and the difficult job that they do, but these trigger-happy cowards who cringe when a dog simply barks at them should be fired. They are a danger to the public at large.

And, the police chiefs who back up this kind of behavior should be fired also.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #35 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:16:15 AM »

Travel vibes for MR BK this lovely summer day.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #36 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:18:42 AM »

I also enjoyed reading the COMPANY notes today.

It is a most entertaining and lovely show. I would like to do it someday, as a director, but that is unlikely.

When it was done at the only Professional Theatre that I work at, the director chosen was living with the only musical director in town who would really do the show justice, so she was chosen to direct the show.... I was directing a show downstairs during its run, and we could hear it going on above us.....but I didn't really want to SEE it.....

Jrand73 · « **Reply #37 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:22:00 AM »

Like DR GINNY, my first exposure to Mr Sondheim was probably the movie version of GYPSY.....and I later saw WEST SIDE STORY on television, although I heard many songs from both on television variety shows. And I think the Jack Paar Show, the hour version on Friday night, had "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as its theme music.....

I was 11 or 12 years old when I saw GYPSY, and it was marvelous. I loved the songs, and I wanted the soundtrack - which I finally found for ninety nine cents in a bargain bin! It was a cut out and had a little brass ring through the top left hand side of the album.

bk · « **Reply #38 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:21:04 AM »

I'm up, I'm up - no treadmill today, but jogging will resume tomorrow.

bk · « **Reply #39 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:21:26 AM »

The Amy in last night's show was terrific.

Druxy · « **Reply #40 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:24:06 AM »

TOD:

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at the Shubert in Los Angeles w/Jean Simmons and Margaret Hamilton.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #41 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:24:33 AM »

I first came to COMPANY when PBS was showing the Making Of....documentary..... When I turned it on, they were going through "Another Hundred People", and I was fascinated. I immediately purchased the OBC and LOVED IT! Still do....have it on CD....and play it a LOT. Also have a couple of revivals on CD....one with a pink cover and one with a blue cover....both of which I have played once or twice. I also have the DVD version of the Raul Esparza version....which I have watched....once.

I keep going back to the OBC and the documentary - both of which are fantastic.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #42 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:27:05 AM »

I have appeared in stage productions of WEST SIDE STORY (a few times), INTO THE WOODS, GYPSY, and A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (my favorite)......

I have a photograph of Mr Sondheim that he sent to me when I wrote him a letter, he also answered a question that I asked..... The photo is a couple of decades old, and I can tell now that it is a computer printed photo....but it is still very nice to have and is in a frame next to Frances Farmer and Carroll Baker. Good company, indeed.

John G. · « **Reply #43 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:32:09 AM »

Good morning, all.

Safe travel vibes for BK.

John G. · « **Reply #44 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:37:56 AM »

TOD:

My first big exposure to Sondheim was the cast album of "A Little Night Music," which I think I loved initially because our minister's daughter hated it. Too morally loose for her. Yet those words, just tumbling out of those people's mouths. Streams and streams of beautiful words, many of which I heard for the first time. Played that album from the library continually. Got my own copy for my birthday, then a copy of the libretto, then a copy of Bergman's original screenplay. It was an obsession.

First production of one of his shows was a tour of "Side by Side by Sondheim" with Hermione Gingold. Loved every second of it, though all I really remember of it was Gingold singing "I Never Do Anything Twice."

ChasSmith · « **Reply #45 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:39:14 AM »

I guess my absolutely earliest exposures to Sondheim were the cast album of GYPSY, the WEST SIDE STORY soundtrack LP, the WSS film (life changing, etc.), then the GYPSY film (and soundtrack) on a re-release. Oddly, I can't remember a single live stage production of anything Sondheim till many years later.

COMPANY is probably the purely-Sondheim show I know better than any other. It's certainly the only one I learned to play from beginning to end, to play for a tiny and horrible local production some twenty years ago (fragmentary evidence of this exists somewhere). I sure wish I'd seen the original, or a reasonable facsimile. Saw the Roundabout, my first brain-numbing disappointing experience with the (then-new?) dumbing down of classic, genius orchestrations. The Pennabaker documentary is priceless. I've been thinking lately it's time for a good watching, as it has been several years.

Jennifer · « **Reply #46 on:** June 19, 2013, 06:42:51 AM »

RE: the TOD. I absolutely love all of the Sondheim musicals I have listened to and seen. But I'm really not sure what is the first.

I know I've seen: Sweeney Todd, ALNM, Forum, Putting It Together, Company. There are a bunch I've seen videos of and a lot I've listened to.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #47 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:16:41 AM »

As far as anything actually performed -- that first COMPANY on solo piano; a later COMPANY with another keyboardist and drums; FORUM on piano with another person on keyboard and drums; WEST SIDE STORY, once filling in for strings in a pit; another time on pit piano but doubling some other stuff they needed; A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, piano/conducting a six-(count'em)-player group. Oy! Is that it?

singdaw · « **Reply #48 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:18:48 AM »

Like many DRs here, my first exposure to SJS was the movie of West Side Story on television. In albums, it was Company - which was strangely in the collection of my parents - they had a lot of cast albums, but no other Sondheim. Anyway, I pulled it out at a fairly early age for the cover. Then I listened to it. And listened. And obsessed. And soon, I was grabbing everything the public library had on Sondheim and devouring it.

My first stage Sondheim was the original production of Sweeney Todd on Broadway. By then I was old enough to be able to travel into NYC on my own.; I must have seen the production 3 or 4 times in its original run.

That is nice that he wrote back to you, DR Jrand62. He was known for that early in his career. I wrote him a letter in the early 80's about Follies, and he was kind to reply promptly back. I don't know if that is still the case now.

I can think of no artist's entire corpus of work, other than classical composers, that has given me so much concentrated pleasure over such a long span of time. There is always something new to discover in these scores, no matter how many times you listen to them. They are witty, intelligent, sophisticated, and massively entertaining. And I am eternally grateful.

singdaw · « **Reply #49 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:21:02 AM »

If only...

ArnoldMBrockman · « **Reply #50 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:30:17 AM »

Quote from: bk on June 18, 2013, 09:34:55 PM

And the word of the day is: HABILIMENT!

And The Song Of The Day Is: PUT ON YOUR SUNDAY CLOTHES

singdaw · « **Reply #51 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:32:06 AM »

Just because it is Wednesday....

Peter Bogdonavich and Orson Welles Go Shopping

singdaw · « **Reply #52 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:36:55 AM »

OK - one more for page 2. Only because it is Wednesday.

These are the Cashew and Orange Blossom Doughseeds - an item on offer at The Doughnut Plant in NYC:

ChasSmith · « **Reply #53 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:39:46 AM »

Something I always wonder about the cast album of COMPANY is whether there's any possibility for a remixing/remastering to better present its complexity -- such as in Another Hundred People in which the richness and detail of orchestration are kind of overwhelmed.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #54 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:47:27 AM »

Quote from: singdaw on June 19, 2013, 07:36:55 AM

These are the Cashew and Orange Blossom Doughseeds - an item on offer at The Doughnut Plant in NYC:

O. M. G.

Jrand73 · « **Reply #55 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:51:10 AM »

I don't know what those are, but I want some.

singdaw · « **Reply #56 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:54:54 AM »

Quote from: ChasSmith on June 19, 2013, 07:39:46 AM

Something I always wonder about the cast album of COMPANY is whether there's any possibility for a remixing/remastering to better present its complexity -- such as in Another Hundred People in which the richness and detail of orchestration are kind of overwhelmed.

Wouldn't that be amazing? The current version on sale has supposedly been "remastered," but I don't know how much it helps in this case. And you can hear some of those details, to varying degree, in the many other versions on CD. But none of them have that incredible original cast.

Doug R · « **Reply #57 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:55:07 AM »

Got Christopher Priest's latest book THE ADJACENT today. He's my favorite writer. I bought his debut novel in 1970 and I've bought all his subsequent books immediately they've been published - 13 in all, not including short story collections.

MBarnum · « **Reply #58 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:57:14 AM »

TOD:

This has not happened to me yet.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #59 on:** June 19, 2013, 07:58:32 AM »

Greetings from Toyland! I have been to Pearl Art Supply and purchased the tape. My colleague Curtis sent me the tracking number for the paper; it will arrive tomorrow. I've dropped the vocal score at Kinko's for 5 more copies to be run off, and I believe that's all I will accomplish here today.

My goddaughter's mother, who has apparently dropped me as a friend along with her husband, is the first voice you hear on the OBC of COMPANY. In the Making of documentary, she's in a purple minidress. I'm weeping no more over the two of them.

News:

Author Topic: IN COMES COMPANY (Read 22924 times)

MBarnum