Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) | |
| Posted by: tmdonahue (tmdonahue@yahoo.com) 10:37 am EST 02/17/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - D2025 04:50 am EST 02/17/19 | |
|
|
|
| Oh, no. I've seen it--we may have different tastes--and the production is contemporary, AS IT SHOULD Be. Sondheim has made some small lyric changes to update the songs but by very little. (There's no more answering service; the song mentions texting instead. The flight attendant in "Barcelona" is named Andy and when Bobbi can't remember his name, she sings Randy. Quite as good as "June/April".) As to the singing, many songs, particularly Bobbie's, in this production have a character revelation. I thought it was great. I wouldn't want this version to be the only Company that is ever mounted again, but it is really, really good. | |
| Link | Link to my latest book "Playing for Prizes" |
| reply to this message | |
| re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 07:44 pm EST 02/17/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - tmdonahue 10:37 am EST 02/17/19 | |
|
|
|
| There's no more answering service; the song mentions texting instead. Which to me is an entirely different take on the lyric, and an inferior one, even if penned by the master. In the original, the choice was to talk directly or to skirt the issue by using the more impersonal answering service, which ties right into the frantic "city of strangers" idea in the song. But "or I'll text you to explain" just isn't the same, because it seems to me a lot of people prefer texting as a direct communication method anyway. There isn't quite the same stigma there, and less people would feel texting is impersonal at all. |
|
| reply to this message |
| the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:34 am EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - Chromolume 07:44 pm EST 02/17/19 | |
|
|
|
| And I blame both Sondheim and Elliott for letting it go. If memory serves, he sang "text me in the morning or I'll call you to explain". If anything it SHOULD be the reverse - "call me in the morning or I'll text you to explain." Maybe better "and i'll" or even other variations like "call me if you want to but i'll text you to explain" or "look I'll text you in the morning if you need me to explain" ... there are many ways to go if you really want to try to rethink/update the song for current phone culture. The point is that no one today would rather call... the whole thing is to avoid speaking directly and in real time to the person. We youths joke about how calling someone is an act of social terrorism or assault. A young person today, and by young I mean under 35 or even 40, usually avoids direct calling whenever possible, especially if you're explaining why you didn't show up somewhere. And this is a theme/metaphor that works stunningly well for Company as it is written and conceived, it fits right in. So this was really sad to me that they missed this easy part of the update. Made it clear to me, among many other examples, that Ms. Elliott is not the person to be overseeing a modern update of Company. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Last Edit: Ann 09:27 am EST 02/19/19 | |
| Posted by: Ann 09:26 am EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture - Chazwaza 11:34 am EST 02/18/19 | |
|
|
|
| On the recording, it sounds like he signs, "I'll text you in the morning or I'll call you and explain." So, he just doesn't know if it's something that he wants to type into a text. The young people in my life still occasionally call, if it's going to take a lot of talking/explaining. I'm just now listening to the recording now ... so many new lyrics (plus an "oh, shit!"), it's jarring to the mind. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 12:39 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture - Ann 09:26 am EST 02/19/19 | |
|
|
|
| But again, that doesn't ring true to me. The text in the morning would be the explanation, or at least if you're giving an explanation it would be in text message. Yes, sure, he might be the type who would call to explain something rather than text. But if we're updating for modern culture, that is just not very common among people under 30 especially, which I think Marta (i forget the male version's name - Martin I assume) is meant to be. But even under 35. And yes young people may call if it's going to take a lot of explaining, but I don't think this scenario would... it's a simple explanation, made less awkward to not have to answer for yourself live on the phone. That's often why people avoid calling. But again, it's just as much about the logic of the scenario he's laying out to me as it is about the lyric having a chance to represent modern phone culture. And it doesn't. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 10:54 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture - Chazwaza 12:39 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
|
|
|
| Also, I tend to read "I'll call you in the morning" as actually meaning the more tacitly understood "I *won't* call you, but I'll say that I will - and if you call me, my service will pick up." The whole sense of the lyric to me is in the LACK of committment/connection. Haven't we all been on first dates, etc, where we know the obligatory "I'll call you" is just something you say to be polite, lol? So really, one wouldn't really be expecting even a text conversation, let alone a call. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) | |
| Posted by: Delvino 12:55 pm EST 02/17/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - tmdonahue 10:37 am EST 02/17/19 | |
|
|
|
| It’s an alternative rather than a replacement and that is wonderful news. If optional iterations of any show provide fresh insight - into the work itself or the society it depicts - we all gain. I think the clips look kinda wonderful and I’m a diehard devotee of the original staging, Aronson design to the Bennett “Tick Tock.” | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 12:03 am EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - Delvino 12:55 pm EST 02/17/19 | |
|
|
|
| The trouble is that too often the original versions are pulled from availability. I think that's unlikely to ever happen with Company, but I don't think it's impossible. I've rarely seen revisions that I thought were improvements, even those that were done by the original author(s). Once in a rare while, yes, but most of the time, no. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| Sondhiem revisions to his shows | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:37 am EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - AlanScott 12:03 am EST 02/18/19 | |
|
|
|
| For someone who is such an unmatched genius in his original goes at things, I have rarely if ever seen a revision Sondheim has made to try or that he has used as the replacement version (and only one available for future productions) that is an improvement. If anything, most are downgrades from his original. It's quite odd and frustrating. Can you think of any Sondheim revisions that are as good or better than what they replaced? |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.021182 seconds.