Complete with gender tweaks, Sondheim's 'Company' arrives at Playhouse Square
Apr. 30—Back in her middle school days in northern New Jersey, one of Kathryn Allison's best friends turned her on to show tunes.
"She and her sister were obsessed with Broadway, and they gave me a mix CD of the hit Broadway shows at the time, and I just absolutely fell in love," says Allison, a cast member of the touring production of Stephen Sondheim's musical "Company" that has set up shop at Playhouse Square in Cleveland as part of the 2023-24 KeyBank Broadway Series.
Around the same time, Allison adds during a recent phone interview from the show's stop in Providence, Rhode Island, her choir teacher was telling Allison's mother that her daughter had talent and that she should enroll her in voice lessons.
"And it kind of just rolled from there," she says. "I started taking singing, dancing, acting classes three times a week. I fell in love with the art form, and I went to college for musical theater."
Only about six months after graduating from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, she made her Broadway debut in "Aladdin."
"It's been a wild ride ever since," she says.
Really, it seems as if it was a relatively smooth ride until early 2020, after she'd earned a spot in the Broadway production of "Company," which stems from the London revival launched a couple of years earlier. Originally set to open on Sondheim's 90th birthday on March 22, the show was, of course, shut down due to the novel coronavirus pandemic after having begun previews. It finally opened in late 2021. (According to a news release from Playhouse Square, it was the last Broadway production Sondheim saw to completion before dying at age 91 in November 2021.)
"We came back two years later and opened the show, and it was amazing," says Allison, who at the time was the understudy for three roles. "And then I was so (kindly) asked to come on the tour to play Sarah, and it's been so, so fun taking the show around the country."
Before we get to Sarah, let's talk about Bobbie, the show's central character — who, at least to her friends, is disturbingly unmarried at age 35 — who's portrayed on the tour by singer-actress Britney Coleman.
When "Company" — with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by George Furth and described by Playhouse Square as a "musical comedy masterpiece about the search for love and cocktails in New York" — debuted on Broadway early in 1970, Bobbie was Bobby, a man. The 2018 West End revival, directed by Marianne Elliott ("War Horse," "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time") made the swap.
Whereas Bobby was juggling three girlfriends, Bobbie has three boyfriends. Among a few other tweaks in the name of bringing this show into the 21st century, the engaged couple Paul and Amy are now two men, Paul and Jamie.
"There have been a lot of (elements) that have been updated to make it a little bit more modern," Allison says.
There remains a Sarah and a Harry, a couple trying to keep their marriage alive.
"They thrive in the competitiveness in their relationship, which is really fun," Allison says. "(Sarah) is obsessively working out. She has a bit of a strong craving for sugary sweets, which you see unfold during the show, and her husband has quite a vice for bourbon. I don't want to (spoil) too much because there are some fun elements that come out of that, but let's just say she's been taking some jujitsu classes, and she might be able to show off the work she's been doing in that class in this scene."
Asked about Sondheim's music in the show, which includes the songs "Company," "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Side by Side" and "Being Alive," Allison says she sees it as some of his most personal and relatable.
"I think it really speaks to the soul of relationships and love for one another and what it is to be within company with each other," she says. "It's (a show where) I've had to stay extremely present in it — because not only are the lyrics so specific and meaningful, but even the opening number, 'Company,' if you think too hard about it, you might miss a step or a lyric.
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"It requires you to have a deep sense of connection, not only to the piece but to the people you're doing it with every night. And I find that really special, that (Sondheim) was able to create a show about these relationships. ... It creates a really easy space to feel connected to everyone, which I really love."
Allison is also willing to go it alone, musically speaking. In 2019, she released a solo album, "Something Real," featuring debut single "Real Love," a Mary J. Blige cover.
"That was also a wild journey," she says. "I worked with an incredible producer, Dominic Fallacaro, and we decided for this album in particular to take songs that I know and love and that I think a lot of people enjoy and try to either strip them down to kind of reveal the lyrics and the intention of the song or just to put a new spin on it."
She hopes to put out more music in the near future, but, for now, "Company" is keeping her busy — and, she says, keeping audiences very entertained.
"They come from the show and they're like, 'This is hysterical — I didn't expect "Company" to be so funny,'" she says. "And that's the one thing I want people to take away, that when you come, know you're going to have a good time. You're gonna laugh. You might see yourself in one if not many of the characters ... and I think that has a lot to do with George Furth's text.
"Just come and have a great time."
'Company'
Where: Playhouse Square's Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.
When: April 30 through May 19.
Tickets: $25 to $115.
Info: PlayhouseSquare.org or 216-241-6000.