Roxy’s Downtown invites ‘Company’ to its stage
For decades, Rick Bumgardner has directed musicals big and small scale, including the last 7 ½ years as artistic director of Roxy’s Downtown.
But through the years there’s been one composer whose work he’s avoided directing: Stephen Sondheim.
He broke that streak with Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” last summer, and next week begins one of the composer’s best-known works, “Company,” at Roxy’s.
“’Company’ was the first Sondheim musical I had been exposed to, so when I decided that I wanted to do a Sondheim show and had the skills to do justice to his work, his incredible lyrics and the book, I decided ‘Company’ would be a part of our season,” Bumgardner said.
Bumgardner said he was afraid that his skills weren’t up to the standards of Sondheim, whose works are among the most lyric-laden in Broadway history.
“The only time I enjoyed Sondheim was when I saw it on Broadway with professionals,” he said. “The only time I went to a regional theater or community theater production of it, I couldn’t understand the words that were coming out of these peoples’ mouths because their diction was awful.
“I didn’t know that I could make that happen to tell those stories that were so brilliantly told by those directors and actors, Hal Prince specifically, on Broadway,” he said. “So I was a little nervous in my own ability to tackle it and undertake it and get everybody on the same page, but wow,” he said of his production.
“Company,” which opened 55 years ago next month, centers on Robert, a single man in New York nearing his 35th birthday, seeing marriage and commitment through their eyes.
“I love that it was experimental in 1970, being a concept musical that explores one topic and one topic only, how hard it is to maintain a personal relationship in a depersonalized society, and I think that’s where we are 55 years later from its premiere,” Bumgardner said.
The musical, which includes Broadway standards as “Being Alive,” “The Ladies Who Lunch” and “Side by Side by Side.” Its original Broadway run earned six Tony Awards, and its 2021 revival – where the lead character was gender-swapped to Bobbie – won five additional Tonys.
Bumgardner said he had briefly considered a female lead for the show, but the licenser wouldn’t allow it.
To play Robert, Bumgardner chose Roxy’s resident music director, Simon Hill.
“It’s a fun place to be. It’s nice to experience this side of the keyboard,” said Hill, who played the emcee last year in Roxy’s “Cabaret.” “It’s great to experience all sides of it and the process and understanding the actors even more.”
Hill said it’s unique to play the character who is both the lead and an observer.
“Bobby is tricky in that he’s on stage most of the time, pretty much every scene, all the scenes with his friends. For the audience, Bobby is the main character, but in all these scenes with his friends, he’s kind of the side character,” he said. “It’s their relationship that’s center stage. Playing both of those roles, the audience focus and the supporting character, is tricky and fun and interesting.”
The cast also includes well-known Wichita theater names, including Jenny Mitchell, Kyle Vespestad, Patty Reeder, Lyle Valentine and Briley Meek.
“I think they’re exactly right for the roles they were cast in, and they were my first choices and everyone said yes,” Bumgardner said. “For this musical, as iconic as it is, I knew I had to have the exact right people with each other.”
“It’s been … a company,” he added, pun-intended.
‘COMPANY’
When: March 26 to April 12; performances at 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays, April 5 and 12
Where: Roxy’s Downtown, 412 ½ E. Douglas Ave.
Tickets: $42, from 316-265-4400 or roxysdowntown.com