Original Cast Album: Company

"Company" is an extraordinary piece of theatre that was ahead of its time. The story themes presented in this seventies Broadway musical, still resonate and feel fresh in our contemporary world. "Original Cast Album: Company" affords us a rare peek into the stakes, tears and process that goes into creating a cast album - which will long outlive the theatrical run and the life of the creators and talent. A soundtrack is how many - most - people will become exposed to a work. This documentary is gripping and compelling, sure to entertain the most fickle of audiences (read: non theater fans). It is a damn shame this series was not expanded to include subsequent productions. I am baffled why no producer has yet to attempt a similar feet, or pick up where this pilot ended.

It's impressive to watch a gaggle of Broadway's best, at almost the exact moment the clock moved from the 1960s into the '70s, take their places in a featureless recording studio to make history. The original cast, the orchestra players, the sound engineers, composer Stephen Sondheim, and session producer Thomas Shepard demonstrate more than great talent and love for what they're doing. They give a master class in how to listen, how to give and take direction, how to hit the creators' target. Near the end, when Ms. Stritch belts out a solo for the ages at 3 a.m., the producer criticizes her delivery, and I wanted to smack him! But I'm not a theater person, unlike the phenomenal troupers who kept soaking up instructions and doing more, more, more takes till everyone was happy. They did it right.

If you own any original cast recording of a Broadway musical, I recommend this behind-the-scenes look at how one OCR was made.

This was apparently the pilot for a documentary series on cast recordings, and it's a shame it didn't come to fruition, because it's really quite good.

I was not familiar with Sondheim beyond a handful of songs that you just hear everywhere (like Send in the Clowns) and even though this is just a few songs from the musical, it was a revelation, particularly Barcelona and Ladies Who Lunch. I'm sure the full production was excellent, but these talented people singing these brilliant songs into their microphones was wonderful as well.

The most fascinating part is the final section, in which Elaine Stritch gives a powerful performance of Lunch that was not, apparently, good enough for the album. It's a great example of the difference between a live performance and a recorded one; as a live performance it was incredible, but it drove her mad.

Well worth watching.

D.A. Pennebaker got roped into this as the first of a projected series of TV shows showing the recording process. After they wrapped and sold it to Chrysler, Pennebaker called up the guy's office to ask what the next one would be. He was now running MGM.

That's show biz for you. What we have left of the projected series is this one 58-minute piece, in which we get to witness Sondheim and his collaborators gathered in a recording studio to make one for the permanent record. It's from the period when Sondheim was erasing the line between recitiative and and lyrical songs, with Beth Howland singing the impossible patter song "I'm Not Getting Married Today", and that magnificent broad Elaine Stritch leading in "The Little Things"..... and blowing take after take, according to the professionals, of "The Ladies Who Lunch"..... despite the fact that I think the first take on film is the best emotionally.

What I don't understand is how bad the songs sound on on the movie. Certainly my cd of the show seem much better.

The first time I watched Company is when I happen to come across a youtube video of Neil Patrick Harrison version of it and ever since I was obsessed.

Pretty much standard fare documentary about Sondheim and crew as they try to create the cast album for the original run of Company. You could see Sondheim's perfectionism, and the cast juggling recording - which seems to be an altogether different experience compared to stage. The film climaxes with Elaine Stritch having a hard time perfecting the famous 'The Ladies who Brunch' song under Sondheim critical direction.

Its very standard, and you do realize why it as a TV Show pilot but if your a fan of the show, its a must see experience to see how each of the original actors do it.