ABSTRACT
Stephen Sondheim was a Broadway wunderkind, mentored by legendary lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II, a neighbor during Sondheim’s teenaged years. In 1969 Sondheim’s friend, actor George Furth, sought advice about some sketches he had written about married couples. Sondheim shared Furth’s writing with his friend producer/director Hal Prince. Company did not have a traditional plot or a tale of romance. Company was performed on Boris Aronson’s impressionistic set of chrome and Plexiglass boxes connected by a working elevator. His design used projections to suggest a stack of New York City apartments inhabited by Robert’s friends, a perfect embodiment of the sterility of contemporary urban life that was the backdrop for the show’s stories. The production also featured brassy Elaine Stritch, as the sardonic, many-times-married Joanne, a hard-bitten role written with the actress in mind.
