Company Lyrics – All Songs from the Musical

"Company (1970 Original Broadway Cast Recording)" Description

Questions and Answers

When and where did Company first open before Broadway?

It tried out at Boston’s Shubert Theatre in March–April 1970, a few weeks before the Broadway opening.

How long did the original Broadway run last?

From April 26, 1970 to January 1, 1972 — 705 performances after 12 previews.

Why did Larry Kert end up on the cast album reissue?

Dean Jones opened the show and recorded the album; after he left, replacement star Larry Kert recorded key vocals for a later reissue branded for London.

What’s the famous documentary connected to the album?

D.A. Pennebaker’s Original Cast Album: Company (1970) captures the marathon recording session, including Elaine Stritch battling “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

Which revival changed Bobby to Bobbie — and did it win big awards?

The gender-flipped Marianne Elliott revival (2018 London; 2021 Broadway) did, winning the 2019 Olivier (Best Musical Revival) and the 2022 Tony (Best Revival).

Is there a recent U.S. tour of the gender-flipped version?

Yes. A North American tour ran from October 2023 to October 2024, led by Britney Coleman as Bobbie.

Notes & Trivia

• The original Broadway production opened at the Alvin Theatre (now Neil Simon Theatre) on April 26, 1970, directed by Harold Prince, with musical staging by Michael Bennett.
• It played 12 previews and 705 regular performances — a figure often misreported in older summaries.
• Dean Jones left the show a month after opening; Larry Kert replaced him and, in a rare Tony exception, was later ruled eligible for Best Actor as a replacement.
• Before “Being Alive,” the finale in Boston was “Happily Ever After,” deemed too bleak; Sondheim rewrote toward hard-won hope.
• Pennebaker’s studio film made Elaine Stritch’s “The Ladies Who Lunch” session legendary (as The New Yorker has noted).
• The 2006 Broadway revival (John Doyle) had the actors play their own instruments onstage — a staging conceit critics talked about for years.
• The 2018–2021 revival flipped Bobby to Bobbie (female) with Sondheim’s blessing and added the Jamie/Paul same-sex couple, a change widely praised by London critics (according to The Guardian).
• A North American tour of the Elliott version ran from Oct 8/17, 2023 to Oct 6, 2024, bringing the gender-flipped staging to dozens of cities.

Overview

Why does a show about commitment feel so exhilaratingly uncommitted to plot? Company is the prototype of the “concept musical”: witty, piercing vignettes orbiting a 35th birthday party. The album preserves that cool, crystalline sound — Jonathan Tunick’s orchestral sheen, Sondheim’s syncopated bite — where warmth and wariness arm-wrestle.

The 1970 cast album (produced by Thomas Z. Shepard) captures not a story’s march but a mind’s ricochet. Studio precision meets stage electricity: “Getting Married Today” fires like a starter pistol; “Sorry-Grateful” exhales ambivalence; “Being Alive” lands like a confession mic’d at close range. Fifty-plus years on, the record still feels modern (as reported by Playbill in 2025).

Genres & Themes

• Urban chamber-jazz orchestral (Tunink’s reeds, vibes, and brass) ? the buzz and isolation of Manhattan friendships.
• Show-biz razzle refracted (“Side by Side”) ? the social performance of happy coupledom.
• Patters & patina (machine-gun lyrics, immaculate voicings) ? control vs. vulnerability — the musical language of ambivalence.
• Acting-through-song (Stritch’s toasted rasp, Donna McKechnie’s snap) ? character study more than plot mechanics.

Key Tracks & Scenes

• “Company” — Original Broadway Cast
  Where it plays: The birthday framing device, diegetic and presentational, launches the motif of together-alone.
  Why it matters: Introduces the overlapping friend chorus — Sondheim’s counterpoint as social pressure.
• “The Little Things You Do Together” — Elaine Stritch & Company
  Where: Joanne’s tart toast at a gathering.
  Why: A thesis on marriage as shared vices; Stritch sets the album’s astringent tone.
• “Sorry-Grateful” — Husbands’ trio
  Where: A candid bench-side confession.
  Why: One of Broadway’s great honesty songs — love as paradox, not fairy tale.
• “Another Hundred People” — Pamela Myers
  Where: Montage of city arrivals (non-diegetic).
  Why: The city as character — breathless rhythm equals urban churn.
• “Getting Married Today” — Beth Howland, et al.
  Where: The runaway-bride panic spiral during wedding prep (diegetic bursts).
  Why: Virtuosic patter as anxiety attack; comedy welded to terror.
• “The Ladies Who Lunch” — Elaine Stritch
  Where: Late-night bar, toast and takedown.
  Why: A character study with a target that keeps boomeranging back to the singer.
• “Being Alive” — Dean Jones (later Larry Kert)
  Where: Finale; Bobby finds language for wanting connection.
  Why: Replacing the bleaker “Happily Ever After,” it delivers cautious optimism without lying to us (as stated in the 2024 Rolling Stone’s study).

Music–Story Links (characters & plot beats as connected to songs)

• At the party, the layered canons in “Company” make the friends sound like one organism — perfect for a protagonist (Bobby/Bobbie) who hasn’t individuated.
• When Amy/Jamie hyperventilates in “Getting Married Today,” tempo is psychology; the patter is the panic. In Elliott’s revival, flipping to Jamie sharpened the scene’s contemporary sting.
• Joanne’s “Ladies Who Lunch” interrogates performative privilege; her scalding toast dares Bobby/Bobbie to stop spectating.
• “Being Alive” doesn’t promise happily-ever-after; it names the cost (“somebody hold me too close”) and makes wanting it the turn.

How It Was Made (supervision, score, behind-the-scenes)

• Creators: Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by George Furth. Original direction/production by Harold Prince; musical staging by Michael Bennett (with Bob Avian).
• Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick’s urbane, woodwind-heavy palette became the show’s sonic signature.
• Cast album (1970): Produced by Thomas Z. Shepard at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio; captured in D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary. The album later won the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.
• Tryout surgery: Finale evolved from “Happily Ever After” (Boston) to “Being Alive” on Broadway — a pivotal tone shift with Sondheim and Prince adjusting calibration.
• Notable revivals: 1995 Roundabout (60 performances); 2006 John Doyle Broadway (actors played their instruments; Tony for Best Revival); 2018 West End & 2021 Broadway gender-flipped Marianne Elliott productions (Olivier & Tony wins).

Reception & Quotes

The 1970 production earned a then record 14 Tony nominations, winning six, and the album became a touchstone for cast-recording craft. The Elliott revival’s gender flip reframed the material for 21st-century dating while keeping the score’s bite (according to The Guardian).

“A heavenly fling… intelligent reimagining of the great musical about marriage and the single life.” — Michael Billington, The Guardian

“Actors playing their own instruments underlines how song is drama in this piece.” — New Yorker (on the 2006 revival)

“Stritch’s ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ session is the stuff of cast-album legend.” — The Criterion Collection editorial

Technical Info

• Title: Company — Original Broadway Cast Recording
• Year: 1970 (album and documentary); Broadway run 1970–1972
• Type: Stage musical; cast recording (no full tracklist here)
• Composers/Lyricist: Stephen Sondheim
• Book: George Furth
• Direction (1970): Harold Prince; Musical staging: Michael Bennett
• Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick
• Music Direction (1970): Harold Hastings
• Album Producer: Thomas Z. Shepard; Label: Columbia Masterworks (later Sony/Masterworks)
• Notable placements on record: “Getting Married Today,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Being Alive,” “Another Hundred People”
• Release context: Cast album sessions filmed for D.A. Pennebaker’s Original Cast Album: Company (NYFF 1970; later Criterion release). A Philharmonic concert film (2011) also screened theatrically.
• Awards (select): 1971 Tonys — Best Musical, Book, Score/Lyrics (6 wins total); 2007 Tony — Best Revival (Doyle); 2019 Olivier — Best Musical Revival; 2022 Tony — Best Revival (Elliott).
• Availability: Original 1970 album in multiple reissues; 2007 (revival) album via Nonesuch/PS Classics; 2018 London cast (gender-flipped) album via Warner Classics.
• Recent developments (2024): U.S. national tour of the Elliott revival ran Oct 2023–Oct 2024; the documentary Keeping Company with Sondheim aired on PBS in 2022 and is widely referenced in coverage of the revival.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Playbill; IBDB; SondheimGuide; The Guardian; The New Yorker; Masterworks Broadway; Discogs; BroadwayWorld; Wikipedia (cross-checked).