The Kimmel Cultural Campus and The Shubert Organization are delighted to present the thrilling Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s and George Furth’s Company, at the Forrest Theatre from November 28th through December 10th, 2023. Winner of five 2022 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, this is the revival’s premiere in Philadelphia as part of the 2023-2024 North American tour starring Britney Coleman as Bobbie. The Kimmel Cultural Campus, as a member of the Independent Presenter’s Network, was a producer of the original Broadway revival production and shares in the Tony Award win.
“As a producing partner on the revival of Company, we are proud to bring this musical to Philadelphia,” said Matías Tarnopolsky, president and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. “We look forward to sharing this remarkable production – the last Broadway collaboration of the late, great Stephen Sondheim – with our audiences.”
The tour follows the critically acclaimed, sold-out engagement in London’s West End and Tony Award-winning run on Broadway. The most honored musical of the 2021-2022 Broadway season is directed by three-time Tony Award winner Marianne Elliott (War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America).
Producer Chris Harper said, “The extraordinary response to this musical masterpiece, both in London and on Broadway, was exhilarating. We are delighted that audiences across North America will finally have the opportunity to experience Marianne Elliott’s Tony Award-winning, joyful and laughter-filled production.”
Company, the musical comedy masterpiece about the search for love and cocktails in New York, is turned on its head in Elliott’s revelatory staging, in which musical theatre’s most iconic bachelor is now a bachelorette. At Bobbie’s 35th birthday party, all her friends are wondering why isn’t she married? Why can’t she find the right man? And, why can’t she settle down and have a family? This whip smart musical comedy, given a game-changing makeover for a modern-day Manhattan, features some of Sondheim’s best loved songs, including “Company,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Side by Side,” and the iconic “Being Alive.”
Sondheim and Elliott collaborated to update Company, bringing Bobbie’s array of friends and lovers into the 21st century: Paul is waiting patiently for his fiancée Jamie to get over his frantic wedding day jitters. Sarah and Harry try jujitsu to keep their marriage alive. Joanne is on her third husband with younger man, Larry. Peter and Susan seem to have the perfect marriage, until perfection proves impossible. Jenny and her square husband David can’t understand Bobbie’s perpetually single status and are not shy about telling her. All while Bobbie juggles three men: sexy flight attendant Andy, small-town boy Theo trying to find his way in the big city, and P.J., the native New Yorker who is more in love with his hometown than Bobbie!
The creative team for Company includes Liam Steel (choreography), Joel Fram (musical supervisor, additional vocal arrangements), Tony Award winner Bunny Christie (set and costume design), Tony Award nominee Neil Austin (lighting design), Tony Award nominee Ian Dickinson (sound design), Tony Award nominee David Cullen (orchestrations), Sam Davis (dance arrangements), Chris Fisher (illusions), Campbell Young Associates (hair, wig, and makeup design), and Tara Rubin (casting).
Company began preview performances on Broadway on March 2, 2020, and, following the shutdown, resumed previews on November 15, 2021. The production was in previews when on November 26, 2021, Broadway suffered the devastating loss of the titan of the American musical, composer Stephen Sondheim. This production of Company was the last Broadway production of his work that he saw to fruition before his passing at the age of 91.
The production opened to critical acclaim on Broadway on December 9, 2021 and was called “gloriously transformative” (The New York Times), “dazzling” (The Hollywood Reporter), “sensational” (Variety), “deeply funny,” (The Washington Post), “a phenomenon that should be experienced in person at least once in this life,” (The New Yorker), and “hands down the best musical production of the season” (New York Post).
Company played its final performance on Broadway on July 31, 2022, having played 300 performances (268 regular performances and 32 preview performances).
The North American tour of Company is produced by Elliott & Harper Productions and Catherine Schreiber. Work Light Productions serves as Executive Producer.
Tickets can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200, visiting www.telecharge.com, or in-person beginning on September 22, 2023, at the Forrest Theatre box office (1114 Walnut Street).
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