Company, the musical 2019

The classical American musical Company gets a gender-swap treatment in London theatres. But does the play need this treatment? Some may think not really. But let's think it over.

In an interview, Jonathan Bailey who played the anxious gay groom Jamie, says that if the musical has been maintained in its old version, nobody would care about a bachelor playing around with women in Manhattan. By turning it to a story about woman hitting mid-30s, the story has made more sense and can relate to women’s experience as they hit 35 when all their friends remind them of the biological hour.

As someone who got married at the age of 40, I saw the play brilliant in a different way.  

The 1970 musical tells the story of a bachelor, Robert, who is afraid of commitment and searches among his married friends for an answer why he should get married and settle down. When the play first came out I 1970, women had been still struggling for equality in the workplace, public life and also private life. The idea that women might be living the life of a bachelor was not common. Art did not bring many examples of female characters going through similar struggles as the one Robert were experiencing. Society was still pressuring women, in spite of the second wave of feminism of the 50s and 60s, to become housewives. In the musical the female characters did not show the depth that males did.

In the contemporary treatment of gender swap, Bobby, a 35 years old woman whose friends are urging her to settle down while she can't find a reason to do so. She spends time with each couple and gets to see that marriage is not really all happy time with another person around all the time. Bobby tells her friends that she would like to commit and there are three men she is considering them as potential husbands. The three girls of the original musical have been turned to males in the contemporary Company: physically attractive flight attendant, the serious and committed who gets engaged to someone else, and the worldly New York’s lover.

In addition to Bobby, two couples have their characters swapped as wives take leading roles in their marriages, which was unthinkable of back in the early 1970s. Susan in the original play was southern belle, and Peter was Ivy league. In the new treatment, it is Peter who is ‘southern belle’, showing feminine traits while Susan looks more masculine.

The play takes inclusiveness and diversity beyond the mixed-race marriages to include gay relationships. The engaged couple become soon-to-be married gay couple Paul and Jamie.

In the night club scene, originally Joanne invites Robert to have an affair which leads to Robert’s realising that he needs to commit; in the contemporary play, Joanne offers Bobby a cigarette which she refuses. Joanne tells Bobby that she needs to be brave and embrace life, instead of just watching it. The scene ends with Bobby realising that she is ready to commit.

The play does not end with Bobby settling down. It ends with her knowing what she wants, wishes for it and the hope that her wishes come true, as she managed to blow out all her candles. 

Nadia