‘Company’ Men

"Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the crazy married people."

-- From Stephen Sondheim's "Company"

Do you?

He does.

And she does.

But he doesn't.

(As in "Take this man/woman to be your lawfully wedded whatever ...")

Such is the thrust of "Company," the groundbreaking (that ground being 1970s Broadway musicals) creation of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and late playwright/actor George Furth that examines relationships, commitment, isolation and companionship through the friendships of five married couples and one single guy.

And asks: Should we get hitched? Or remain blissfully -- or not so blissfully -- unhitched?

"We've lived through years of film that addressed a lot of those issues, we're a good decade past 'American Beauty,' but in 1970, in the genre of musical comedy, there hadn't been anything that addressed those things in such a stark and honest way," says Broadway actor Anthony Holds ("Pal Joey," "Spamalot"), who'll assume the lead role in Nevada Conservatory Theatre's staging of "Company." Considered the original "concept" musical, it opens tonight at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"What's a wedding? It's a prehistoric ritual where everybody promises fidelity forever, which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of, which is followed by a honeymoon where suddenly he'll realize he's been saddled with a nut and wanna kill me. Which he should."

"It was the first one that broke all the rules," says Broadway choreographer Michael Lichtefeld ("The Secret Garden," "Sweeney Todd"), who advances to director for the UNLV production.

"When I was in school, I saw a national tour of it in Indianapolis and I thought the piece was amazing, but some people walked out, they just were not ready for this show. Now you can turn on 'Family Guy' and see things more shocking."

"Company" casts Holds as single Robert (aka Bobby, Robby, Robbo, Bob-O), dating three women and about to be feted on his 35th birthday by 10 friends, a quintet of couples desperate to pair him with a perma-mate -- but why?

Do they believe he'll be happier as half of a stable duo, or do they secretly envy his life as a serial-dating single?

Robert also wonders, re-evaluating his bachelorhood in a series of comic vignettes -- self-contained and in no particular order, a nonlinear structure never before attempted in a musical -- all played against the pulsating setting of New York City.

Except that -- owing to a bit of plot tweaking by Lichtefeld -- all that bustle unfolds within Robert's mind. "He comes in from a day of work, fixes himself a drink, listens to all these answering machine messages and learns there's a surprise party being planned for him," Lichtefeld says. "In between sips of the drink is when the play happens."

"Someone is waiting. ... Would I know her even if I met her? Have I missed her? Did I let her go? ... I'll find you if I can."

"It looked at the lives of mature adults in fairly traditional domestic situations, not just the romances leading up to a happy ending, after which we guess that everything's perfect," Holds says. "The key word for me in admiration of Sondheim's work is always 'ambiguity,' and this addresses imperfections of a long-term relationship."

Furth, a character actor noted for nerdy roles -- memorably as Woodcock, the luckless railroad guard twice robbed by Newman and Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" -- penned 11 one-act plays that found their way to Sondheim, who requested that producer/director Hal Prince evaluate the material.

"Prince said, 'I think there's a musical in here somewhere' and they invented the character of Bobby to tie them together," Lichtefeld says. "It was revived around 1996, they updated it, but the problems of relationships are timeless."

Sondheim's typically complex, convention-defying score includes "Getting Married Today," "Have I Got a Girl For You," "Little Things You Do Together," "Being Alive," "Someone is Waiting," "Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You?" and "Have I Got a Girl for You."

"Have I got a chick for you, hoo boy! Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- the Kama sutra and Chinese techniques; I hear she knows more than 75, call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

"Sondheim's music, as you wade into it, can appear chaotic, when it's all completely calculated," Holds says. "There's real beauty and satisfaction in finding those things."

As for the narrative impact, Lichtefeld says the creators were looking to deliver social commentary wrapped in laughs. "Sondheim once said that when he and Furth were writing the show, he wanted people to laugh their asses off, then go home and lose a little sleep thinking about what they'd just seen."

The composer also once was quoted more bluntly on the subject: "Show me a good marriage," he said, "and I'll show you a difficult relationship."

"It's the little things you share together, swear together, wear together; the concerts you enjoy together, neighbors you annoy together, children you destroy together, that keep marriage intact."

Ultimately, weighing bachelorhood against couplehood, Sondheim's lyric speaks for Robert's heart:

"Alone is alone, not alive."

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.