Original Cast Album - Company
by D.A. Pennebaker
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DVD details
Actor: Beth Howland, Charles Braswell, George Coe, George Furth, Thomas Z. ShepherdDirector: D.A. Pennebaker
Brand: New Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 58 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Video Group
DVD Reviews of Original Cast Album - Company
DVD Review: A Moment in Time for Sondheim and Company
Summary: 5 Stars
As an adult in my forties, I only recently became familiar with Sondheim's "Company," (I guess I was a little young when it first came to Broadway and was somehow never exposed to it in my youth.) This is one of the reasons why I am so grateful for the existence of this documentary.
When I heard the CD for the first time, I was struck by the timelessness of the concepts presented in the music. But seeing the DVD of the cast recording changed my perspective entirely. The original presentation of this show clearly did capture the essence of an era, (early 1970's) and the notions and attitudes prevalent at that time.
What a pleasure to see young Charles Kimbrough, Barbara Barrie, Beth Howland, and Dean Jones. And I could spend hours watching Elaine Strich rant and rave, had she been born later, she surely would have been a big reality television star! (But I am glad she wasn't or her tremendous talent might have been wasted.)
DVD Review: Not as good as it could be
Summary: 2 Stars
COMPANY, Stephen Sondheim.
I was looking forward to seeing the complete, uninterrupted shoowbut to my surprise[it does not say so in the advertisement], this is only a documentary showing the original cast, which is brilliant, and the individual songs which are all interrupted by narrative talk.
If you are expecting a pleasurable entertainment which gives you an image of the musical, this is not for you, but on the other hand, there is no alternative.
Joe Neustatl
DVD Review: not what i expected
Summary: 2 Stars
I was expecting a video of the production,instead I got a documentary of the making of the audio recording.Interesting, but not what I was hoping for...and very short for a DVD. Obviously a made for TV documentary,not a record of the show.DVD Review: how can I tell you what I think about it ?
Summary: 1 Stars
I do not have the title.....it has't arrived
I still hope it was sent to me!!!
DVD Review: Great Almost Forgotten Cast Album
Summary: 5 Stars
I never saw Company on stage, but was introduced to snippets of it on a DVD about Broadway and realized I would probably like the whole album. So, I ordered it, and I did.
Then I rented the DVD that shows how the cast album was made. .and that was even better! So, I hope that someday Company will tour. . I think it may be doing a Revival on Broadway, but I'd have to check that out. . but whatever the case, it's an interesting and well done cast recording and if you are a Sonheim fan, a must for your collection.
Description of Original Cast Album - Company
Called a "monumental achievement" by the Los Angeles Times, Company is the extraordinary documentary capturing the explosive recording session for Stephen Sondheim's landmark musical. On May 3, 1970, just a few days after its triumphant Broadway opening,While a proposed series of original cast recording sessions for documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (Don't Look Back) never materialized, Original Cast Album: Company survives as the first and only entry, and it was fortuitous that its subject was the 1970 musical Company. Groundbreaking in its use of a series of vignettes rather than a conventional plot, it was also one of the earliest major works for composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the most important figure in musical theater over the last quarter-century. Unlike films, theater productions rarely have a permanent record, so a musical is preserved for posterity by the cast recording. This puts all the pressure on the recording session, as cast member Susan Browning explains during the recording of "You Could Drive a Person Crazy": a live performance can be imperfect, but "this is different. This is the definitive, it's the end-all and the be-all of this song, and... God, that could drive a person crazy!"
For this film, Pennebaker and his crew took three hand-held cameras into the studio and filmed the singers, the orchestra, and the control booth, then condensed the 18.5-hour recording session into a fast-moving 60 minutes. You can see the intensity and sheer enjoyment on the faces of the cast, and record producer Thomas Z. Shepard, show producer-director Harold Prince (both frequent Sondheim collaborators), and Sondheim (a notorious perfectionist) become alternately exhilarated and exasperated as they listen and try to solve various problems. Other interesting moments include an emphasis on the orchestra rather than the lead vocal in "Another Hundred People," and Elaine Stritch's exhausting take after take of "The Ladies Who Lunch." This is a rare look at an important moment in Broadway history, and obviously, it's highly recommended for Broadway fans. --David Horiuchi
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