Somebody hold me too close. Somebody hurt me too deep. Somebody sit in my chair and ruin my sleep and make me aware of being alive. Being alive. That’s the plea of protagonist Bobby in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company (book by George Furth) which is currently gracing the stage in the elegant Opera House at The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts in our nation’s capital. Originally produced in 1970 Company was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won six.
Phone rings, door chimes, and in comes a charming and comical production of Company, Sondheim’s musical comedy, presented by Just-Off Broadway in Baltimore! Company, one of the first successful Broadway musicals written about adult themes and relationships, was the winner of 1971 Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Score, Best Lyrics, and Best Musical. The themes of bachelorhood, marriage, and how to form and maintain relationships are enduringly relevant more than three decades later.
Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! Phone rings, door chimes, in comes company! Does anyone still wear a hat? Vagabond Players is wearing a sensational hat of many flavors, providing you all the company you could ask for and giving you a comedy, with hints of heart-melting sorrow, with their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Side by Side by Sondheim. A truly one of a kind Sondheim musical revue, everything’s coming up Shannon, as Director Shannon Wollman makes her directorial debut with the company’s second musical of the 99th season.
While Into the Woods may be all the rave in the world of Stephen Sondheim right now, the Vagabond Players takes a step back to a simpler time in the musical master’s history. The earlier works all bound together in a magically enchanting evening; one musical revue to thoroughly enjoy an evening of intimate musical theatre is now opening on the stage as the second musical show in their 99th season.
Theatres all across the Washington DC and Baltimore metropolitan area are popping up like daisies in the spring time. Musical theatre companies, companies devoted to the classics, new edgy fringe-based companies; every city has a few dozen devoted to each if not more. But Silver Spring, a cozy suburb on the outskirts of the nation’s capitol proper, has a company that is truly unique. It’s almost 13 years old and was founded by Artistic Director Kevin Kearney,