PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Modernized revivals of the late Stephen Sondheim’s musicals like “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Sweeney Todd” are taking Broadway by storm.
And on Nov. 28 a modernized version of “Company” will be heading to Philadelphia as part of its national tour.
The musical won five Tony Awards in 2022, including Best Musical Revival, and garnered lots of buzz about its gender-swapped roles.
The lead character in the original 1970 production was an unmarried man named Bobby, who tries to find lessons about love and life from his married friends as he turns 35. In this version, it’s a woman named Bobbie played by Britney Coleman who came through Philadelphia a few months ago in the cast of “Beetlejuice.” Fans of the revival say this change makes the story more relevant and relatable.
The original version also features bride-to-be Amy, who gets cold feet on the day she’s supposed to marry her fiancé, Paul. In the revival, Amy’s character is switched to a man named Jamie, played by Matt Rodin, introducing a gay couple into the show.
“Not only are you getting to see a different side of what anxiety can look like from a man rather than a woman,” Rodin said, “but you're also watching a queer relationship in a way that I don't think a lot of queer relationships are portrayed in general.”
He says most queer couples in pop culture are either comedic or focus on struggle and trauma with very little middle ground.
“What this show does now with this update is it creates a sort of real-life version of what it's like to be in a queer relationship where there is deep, genuine love, but it's not all roses. There is conflict, and there is stress and fear," Rodin explained.
And those feelings are expressed as Rodin’s character Jamie sings the high-speed song, “Getting Married Today.” In that scene, Rodin says Jamie “is sort of going through this existential crisis of ‘Do I want to be in a committed partnership? What does that mean to me? Do we have to just because we now have the right to?’”
Rodin says can’t help but think of his own wedding when he steps into this role because he got married the day of his final audition.
“I got married at 11 a.m. in Central Park with our families and a couple of friends, and then at 2 p.m. I went over into a room and I sang ‘(Not) Getting Married Today,’” he said.
“And now for me, what's really special is I get to relive a part of my wedding day eight times a week. And every day I get to think of my husband, who's living in New York City while I'm doing the song.”
“Company” will be at the Forrest Theater Nov. 28 – Dec. 10. Tickets and more information are available on the Kimmel Cultural Campus website.