{"id":111315,"date":"2026-03-09T23:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=111315"},"modified":"2026-03-10T08:53:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:53:59","slug":"sondheims-company-scrutinizes-marriage-via-youth-ensemble-at-142-throckmorton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/sondheims-company-scrutinizes-marriage-via-youth-ensemble-at-142-throckmorton\/","title":{"rendered":"Sondheim\u2019s \u2018Company\u2019 scrutinizes marriage \u2014 via youth ensemble at 142 Throckmorton"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Five couples whose lives are examined in \u2018Company\u2019 are framed and ready for their closeups. Photo by Michael Pringle @illumigarden.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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By WOODY WEINGARTEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Legendary composer Stephen Sondheim enjoyed turning concepts on their heads in his lyrics, and writing music that likewise broke an oeuvre of rules. When he finished a Broadway show, or a single song, he\u2019d often find himself at a destination difficult for many theatergoers to fully comprehend.<\/p>\n

Company <\/em>is less problematic. Sondheim\u2019s 1970 breakthrough musical comedy slyly \u2014 despite little deep diving \u2014 deconstructs the institution of marriage and its equally troubled partner, singlehood by focusing on paradoxical relationships and obstacles to commitment.<\/p>\n

Via lots of humor. With several touches of pathos.<\/p>\n

Sophistication might be Sondheim\u2019s middle name. Too much for high school-age actors to fathom, much less stage? Nope!<\/p>\n

The Throckmorton Theatre Youth Performers is producing an extraordinary version of the show through March 22 in Mill Valley. Opening weekend, the actors had almost as much fun as the screeching\/hooting\/clapping audience that clearly was crowded with friends and families.<\/p>\n

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Bobby (Parker Hall, in foreground) and Amy (Sam Garfinkel) both contemplate marriage \u2014 in very different ways. Photo by Michael Pringle @illumigarden.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In that production, which spotlighted one of two large ensemble casts, Parker Hall portrayed Bobby, a well-liked perma-bachelor whose friends had planned a non-surprise 35th birthday party. They long ago launched a nag-nag-nag campaign aimed at convincing him to get a wife.<\/p>\n

Hall is masterful as he solos on \u201cSomeone Is Waiting,\u201d performs a duet with April (Anya Lamb) on \u201cBarcelona,\u201d and gracefully leads the entire ensemble on \u201cThe Little Things You Do Together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five couples find themselves at various levels of disintegration. One is divorcing, another\u2019s lived together for years but is imperiled by the female\u2019s fear of getting married, a third pictures a woman experiencing momentary freedom by inhaling pot even though she doesn\u2019t really want it, yet another contains a male partner constantly demeaned by his thrice-married wife, and the last spotlights two quasi-addicts, one a recovering drunk and the other a practicing ultra-foodie.<\/p>\n

Each couple literally gets its time in the limelight by singing behind a large wooden frame that\u2019s the most striking part of a marvelous atmosphere created by set designers Steve Coleman and Jean-Paul LaRosee.<\/p>\n

The complex but superb show \u2014 whose book was written by George Furth, and which was nominated after its debut for a record-breaking 14 Tony awards, winning six \u2014 is peppered with simply wonderful songs.<\/p>\n

The biggest laugh-evoking, show-stopping tune, \u201cGetting Married Today,\u201d is exquisitely performed \u2014 over-the-top both physically and musically \u2014 by Sam Garfinkel in the role of Amy, the reluctant bride. It\u2019s impossible not to laugh when she, at great length, sings with the frenetic speed of an auctioneer or horse race caller.<\/p>\n

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Sarah (Madison Bishop) shows that her yoga lessons have paid off. Photo by Michael Pringle @illumigarden<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Poignant but mocking tones are interjected by Joanne (fleshed out perfectly by Noa Weis) in \u201cThe Ladies Who Lunch,\u201d and in \u201cSorry\/Grateful,\u201d which features three guys (Harry, David, and Larry, portrayed, respectively, by Beckett Hepp, Lucas Cedolin, and Morgan Hunt).<\/p>\n

That one shows how marriage simultaneously changes everything and nothing.<\/p>\n

Plaudits are also especially deserved by co-directors Erin Gentry and Adam Maggio for keeping the two-plus-hour musical snug. Gentry\u2019s playful choreography, not incidentally, draws smiles and appreciation.<\/p>\n

To be sure, not everything works perfectly in the 142 Throckmorton production. Choruses occasionally muffle lyrics, and excessively loud music by a seven-piece adult band at the foot of the stage drowns out some others.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, since Sondheim was gay, the show includes passing references to homosexual relationships. Also predictable is that the inherent sexuality in Company<\/em> is played down in this production.<\/p>\n

Sondheim musically painted the multiple vignettes of Company, <\/em>which began as 11 separate one-act plays, <\/em>so cleverly he was able to successfully observe marriage in such universal ways they\u2019re just as recognizable today as when first staged more than half a century ago.<\/p>\n

Company<\/em> will run at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, through March 22. Tickets: $30 to $38. Info: 415-383-9600 or throckmortontheatre.org.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherwood \u201cWoody\u201d Weingarten, a longtime voting member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at\u00a0voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or on his websites, https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com<\/a>and\u00a0https:\/\/vitalitypress.com<\/a>. His books include <\/em>Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner\u2019s breast cancer<\/em>, aimed at <\/em>male caregivers;\u00a0MysteryDates \u2014 How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I<\/em>, a compilation of 70 of his newspaper columns; and\u00a0Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates<\/em>, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that he co-authored with his then 8-year-old granddaughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By WOODY WEINGARTEN Legendary composer Stephen Sondheim enjoyed turning concepts on their heads in his lyrics, and writing music that likewise broke an oeuvre of rules. When he finished…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-111315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"