Being Alive

One pleasure that I have enjoyed during this week of recovery/hiding is getting to see some of the stuff saved on the DVR. I finally watched the version of Company that was shown a few weeks ago on Great Performances. It's a filmed version of the musical revival from about a year ago. I'd never seen the entire show, just snippets of it here and there. It was a delight to see an entire production although I would have loved to have seen it live. Maybe there will be a touring company of it that makes its way to Los Angeles soon.

I was already familiar with the songs (as are most people, I think), having owned the original cast show album with Dean Jones (!), Larry Kert (who replaced Dean Jones), Elaine Stritch, and Beth Howland, among others. Yet I didn't know all of the plot points that link the songs. But such songs: "(Not) Getting Married Today," "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Side by Side by Side," "Another Hundred People," "Being Alive." Wow. You almost don't need a plot when you have songs like those. It is Stephen Sondheim at his best.

Here's the basic plot: Robert/Bobby is a single man in New York City in his mid-30s, and he's grappling with the subject of marriage. He seems to like women very much (so he's not gay, despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence to the contrary), but he doesn't seem to like the thought of marriage too much. And almost all of his friends have marriages that do not serve as good models for him to follow. At the end of the musical, it appears that little has changed for Bobby himself (my opinion, mind you) although a great deal seems to have changed for his friends.

What I want to talk about, though, is that aside from the great music and the interesting story, there's an amazing lead performance in this production by Raul Esparza. He's a great singer, he has tremendous charisma and stage presence, and he's entrancing to watch. There's hardly a moment when he isn't on stage during this production (well, all of them are on stage for this entire production, but that's another story), yet he's so fascinating a performer that you'd miss him if he were gone for any extended period of time. I particularly loved his performance of "Marry Me a Little," but he gets to show the greatest emotional fireworks during "Being Alive" at the end of the show. And he's quite the piano player as well. (The members of the cast serve as the orchestra as well, playing all of the instruments required for the musical numbers.)

What I keep remembering about Esparza is his face. He's a great "reactor." If you get a chance to see this production, watch him as his friends tell their stories. His face is so malleable; you always know what he's thinking. I particularly enjoyed his expressions during the performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch" by Barbara Walsh, but don't miss the dialogue they have after she finishes. It's priceless to see his reactions then too. And he and Elizabeth Stanley as April turn "Barcelona" into a heartbreakingly beautiful duet.

I keep wondering what it must have been like to see Dean Jones (he of "The Love Bug" movies) in this part back in 1970. Mind-boggling.

I don't know if Esparza will stay one of those performers who is only known for his work on the Broadway stage or not. Some people never make the leap, and there aren't that many musical films in production these days. There are even fewer chances on television unless you're in your late teens or early 20s. I can imagine him as a star during the earlier years of Hollywood, a time when singing and dancing and acting were expected of almost every performer. (Even Joan Crawford danced and sang, for heaven's sake--I didn't say she did either of them well, did I?) Yet he might wind up never getting to use the full range of his talents if he comes to Hollywood and stars in his own sitcom, for example. I'm remembering what they did (have done? are still doing?) to poor Nathan Lane after his series of big successes on the stage; his best role is probably still as a cartoon meerkat. Esparza has the looks of a leading man and the voice to make him a star, regardless of the medium. Until that happens, I'll just continue to relish his performance in Company, the one instance of him on film that I've managed to see.