John Doyle's Company Set for Broadway Transfer in November

John Doyle's production of Company is coming to Broadway. The Stephen Sondheim/George Furth revival, which is currently playing at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park through April 14, will start performances in November at a theater to be announced.

Company takes an unconventional look at love and commitment in a complex modern world. The show is a sophisticated portrayal of five married couples as seen through the eyes of their mutual friend Bobby, a bachelor weighing the pros and cons of wedded life. The original Broadway production, which opened at New York's Alvin Theatre in 1970, was honored with the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical as well as six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Like Doyle's hit Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, this mounting of Company will feature actors who also serve as the show's orchestra of musicians. The Cincinnati production features Raúl Esparza as Bobby as well as Keith Buterbaugh, Matt Castle, Robert Cunningham, Angel Desai, Kelly Jeanne Grant, Kristin Huffman, Amy Justman, Heather Laws, Leenya Rideout, Fred Rose, Bruce Sabath, Elizabeth Stanley and Barbara Walsh as Joanne. Although no cast members are confirmed for Broadway, most of the company is expected to remain with the production.

Company received positive reviews when it opened at the Playhouse in the Park on March 20. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote: "The new collaboration between this hot British director and the celebrated American composer and lyricist proves that the success of Sweeney was not a fluke. Mr. Doyle has admitted that his fresh method of renewing old musicals was initially born of economic considerations. This scintillating production of an earlier Sondheim musical, which stars a terrific Raúl Esparza as the famously diffident, chronically single Bobby, affirms that necessity has indeed mothered a reusable tool for theatrical reinvention, not a quickly exhausted gimmick."