‘Company’ Revival to Help AIDS War

When Stephen Sondheim’s newest musical “Company” hit Broadway in 1970, just about everyone knew they were seeing a new incarnation of the American musical, but few knew if it would last.

Here was musical theater--in the tradition of 1943’s “Oklahoma”--that had taken a sharp turn toward realism. Within the confines of a stark steel-framework stage, Sondheim’s music and George Furth’s book addressed marital infidelity, relationship wars and urban isolation.

The two-year run of “Company” was short by Broadway standards, but the play earned seven Tony awards and, perhaps more important, produced a cast recording that has increased in popularity among musical-theater fans over the past two decades.

The original cast members will reunite in Long Beach on Saturday for a concert of the songs they made famous.

“Most of these people haven’t seen each other in 20 years,” said Barry Brown, producer and director of “Company in Concert.” “When they all get in the same room together, it’s goose-bump time.”

Angela Lansbury will be host, and George Hearn--who led the cast of “La Cage aux Folles” on Broadway--will narrate. The evening will benefit the Actors Fund of America AIDS Initiative, the St. Mary’s Hospital Comprehensive AIDS Resource Program and the Long Beach Civic Light Opera.

For Brown, “Company in Concert” is more than a reunion. The original production of “Company” lured him into musical theater, he said.

“I stood in back of the Alvin Theater at least 100 times, just watching. It was incredible,” Brown remembers.

Brown later produced “La Cage” and “Gypsy” starring Tyne Daly.

The concert is dedicated to the memories of three “Company” members: original choreographer Michael Bennett, actor Larry Kert, who played Bobby on Broadway and in London, and the original production stage manager, Fritz Holt, who later became Brown’s partner in producing several musicals.

“I think just about everyone realizes what a special musical ‘Company’ was,” Brown said. “This concert was difficult to put together, but when it comes to raising money for AIDS, I’ll do almost anything.”

Saturday’s 8 p.m. concert will feature such original cast members as Elaine Stritch, who made the song “The Ladies Who Lunch” famous, Dean Jones, Beth Howland, Donna McKechnie, Charles Kimbrough--who now plays Jim Dial on television’s “Murphy Brown”--and others.

The concert will be held in the 3,000-seat Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach. For more information, (310) 432-7926.