“I thought: this can only happen if it truly works. I didn’t want to do anything gimmicky or turn it into a women’s role just for the sake of it. I wanted it to say something about a woman in this predicament, as if it had been written for a woman.” -Marianne Elliott, director of Company
I mentioned in my previous post, that I was originally afraid that the casting of a female Bobbie would feel forced and not work with the text. It’s really easy to genderbend a character and call yourself edgy. It’s very difficult to actually justify your choices in a way that makes the choice valuable. Elliott proved that though it’s difficult, it’s definitely not impossible.
The casting of a woman in the lead role made the show reminiscent to all of the tv series and movies with a strong female lead that followed Company (ie. Sex and the City, Ally McBeal, Bridget Jones Diary.) Why was there such a surge in female-centered media in the years following the success of Company in the ‘80s? Why make this jump from featuring single men to single women? Hadley Freeman, columnist for The Guardian, explains “Part of the reason the single-woman story is more interesting than that of the single man is because it comes with a built-in deadline.” (“Tick Tock the Biological Clock) Part of the reason that female centered entertainment is so compelling is the fact that the heroines are racing against their mortality which is ever imminent. Elliott’s Bobbie was no different.
Company is centered around Bobbie’s 35th birthday. With a male lead, the audience is supposed to feel for Bobby because he’s getting older. He’s leaving his sexual prime and probably should settle down because the 40 year old bachelor isn’t too appealing. However, when you bring in Rosalie Craig’s Bobbie, the circumstance deepens immensely. Freeman briefly outlines the timeline, “A single man’s options are always open. If a single woman wants to have a child, then she needs to make a decision by her late thirties.” Every time the audience sees another version of Bobbie’s birthday, they–like Bobbie–are reminded that time is running out. This immense pressure is beautifully striking because the scenes with Bobbie’s irthday often follow songs and scenes that pose the heroine with a question about her future. Right when she’s most conused, BAM, we ambush her with the reminder that she’s getting older.
You may be thinking…David, it’s sexist to assume that Bobbie is even thinking of having a children! Just because she’s a woman, she has to be worried about her biological clock?! Welcome to the 21st century, Tibbs. Well…hear me out. Elliott’s got my back on this one. She makes it very clear that babies are on Bobbie’s mind. They might not be at the forefront, but the prospect of starting a family is definitely part of the pressure weighing her down in her relationships. “Tick Tock” is a song in the second act of Company. It follows “Poor Baby,” a song in which Bobbie’s friends express their sympathy for her single life while she’s in bed with her casual boyfriend Andy. I always look forward to seeing what a production will do with “Tick Tock” because it’s a ballet. It’s one of the only song–aside from the Entr’acte–that has no lyrics. Normally “Tick Tock” is meant to show Bobbie’s inability to commit by featuring an ensemble of women led by one of Bobbie’s other girlfriends–the girl next door, Kathy. One of my favorite parts of the New York Philharmonic concert was watching Chryssie Whitehead kick her face in a negligee during this number. I thought…”Hey! Bobbie is a straight woman now! Maybe I get to watch some sexy men kick their face in their underwear during this number.” I never thought I’d say this, but I was not at all disappointed by the lack of naked men. Elliott transformed the anti-commitment ballet into an ULTRA-commitment ballet. There were several different Rosalie Craig lookalikes that represented Bobbie in different parts of her life if she made a commitment to each of her three casual boyfriends. We saw her as a stay-at-home mom with Theo. We saw her as a badass executive with PJ. We saw her live a pretty ordinary life with Andy. Several Bobbies zooming around the tiny apartment set with strollers, briefcases, some with large pregnancy bellies, some coming home after a night of partying. The hustle and bustle of the countless possibilities of how life can turn out threw the audience directly into Bobbie’s whirlwind of a life. The anxieties, the hope, the fear, and every other emotion that has been bubbling inside of Bobbie throughout the entire show were finally visible and tangible, and it was invigorating.
These anxieties and that everlasting and persistent biological clock made the circumstances for the musicals most popular ballads sink in even deeper. You can really taste all of the heartbreaking desperation in “Marry Me a Little” so much deeper than in any other production of Company than I’ve ever seen. I’m honestly so inspired in the ability to rejuvenate old works and create something new.
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