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>> Sondheim show at Players' Theatre a revelation

by AMY BARRATT

Postponed a week due to the Troubles, an eagerly awaited Company finally opened last week at McGill Players' Theatre. Presented by a bunch of Da Capo expatriates calling themselves the Second Company, the Stephen Sondheim­George Furth musical is directed by Brent Krysa who, having performed small miracles with Assassins and last year's A Little Night Music, shall henceforth be known as the Sondheim Doctor.

His clever manipulation of the title, .com/p@n.y., serves notice that this will be a '90s version of a show that was originally produced on Broadway in 1970. As I had always thought of Company as the quintessential "Me Generation" musical, I was skeptical as to whether the updating would work. Krysa and his talented team showed me what I never would have believed: that at its heart, Company is ageless.

The story is simple. It's Bobby's 35th birthday, he's not married or seriously involved, and he's questioning his choices. Most productions I've seen take this thinnish subject matter and stretch it even thinner by portraying Bobby as an unrepentant playboy who's just a bit sheepish around his married friends who, in turn, are portrayed as trapped, self-deluded sellouts. I don't care how great the music is (and when it comes to Sondheim you either love him or hate him), nobody wants to watch such a pathetic bunch of losers for two hours.

What makes this production work is that, right from the get-go, Brian McMillan's Bobby is a guy in crisis. We don't always like him, but we see him genuinely struggling with his inability to commit. Traditional interpretations open with Bobby being fêted on his birthday by his adoring friends. This production begins with Bobby sitting alone in a trendy upscale coffee piano bar and strongly hints that the birthday party is nothing but a lonely fantasy.

Krysa's interpretation sets most of the action "within the mind of Bobby," a choice which simultaneously explains the fragmented structure of the piece, and pulls all the fragments together: each remembered scene is part of Bobby's argument with himself over the pros and cons of committing.

The whole of Player's Theatre has been turned into a piano bar for this show, with audience and performers alike sitting at tables drinking coffee. (If the metal chairs and harsh lighting are reminiscent of your local Second Cup, perhaps it's because that fine institution is one of the show's sponsors.)

After seeing this scaled-down, up-close Company (there's no orchestra, just the cool piano stylings of Dave Myers, allowing the witty lyrics to shine through) you won't be able to imagine it in a big Broadway house.

The Sondheim Doctor and his cohorts don't approach musicals any differently from straight plays, wisely recognizing that both need fully rounded characters driven by real fears and desires. Too often, perhaps because the music is so challenging, Sondheim shows are performed as series of clever songs strung together by meaningless scenes. This production comes across as a play, parts of which just happen to be sung. That's not to say that the music is given the shaft: though cast members vary vocally from classically trained to usually-only-sing-in-the-shower, every person up there knows how to use a song to tell a story. They also seem perfectly at home with Diane Klic's wonderful, Stomp-inspired choreography. .com/p@n.y. is a revelation.

Tonight through Saturday, 8:30pm, coffee bar opens at 7:45pm. Saturday matinee at 2pm. Possible extension. $12 general admission, $8 students & seniors

The Academy Awards of Quebec theatre The fourth annual Soirée des Masques will be held Feb. 1 at the Monument­National. Twenty-two "Masques" (awards) will be presented, including one for best English-language production of 1996-97. Two of the three finalists in that category are Centaur theatre productions: Glace Bay Miner's Museum (a co-production with Nova Scotia's Eastern Front Theatre Company) directed by Mary Vingoe, and The Winter's Tale, directed by Alexander Marine and Maurice Podbrey. The third nominee is Marianne Ackerman's Blue Valentine, presented by Theatre 1774. Ackerman is also in the running for best original text, a category in which hers is the only English-language script.

JMC Productions and the Saidye Bronfman Centre didn't fare as well as the Centaur, but their production of Lips Together, Teeth Apart did not escape notice: Guy Neveu is nominated for his set (complete with swimming pool), and the wonderful Linda Sorgini is up for best lead actress. Mary Colin-Chisholm also got the nod in that category for her role in Glace Bay Miner's Museum.

Also of interest, this year's Prix d'Hommage will go to the legendary Dora Wasserman, founder of the Yiddish Theatre of the SBC.

La Soirée des Masques will be televised live on Radio-Canada from the Monument­National's Salle Ludger-Duvernay, this Sunday starting at 8 p.m.