Stephen Sondheim working on a 'gay' version of Company

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/16/stephen-sondheim-company-musical-gay-version

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Stephen Sondheim's legendary 1970 musical Company centres on Bobby, a New York commitment-phobe flitting between various girlfriends. However, after 40 years, Bobby could be about to change his sexual preferences, after reports that the composer is working on a revised "gay" version of the musical.

John Tiffany, the Tony award-winning director of Once, proposed the re-reading to Sondheim and is workshopping the idea in New York with Daniel Evans, artistic director of Sheffield Crucible, playing Bobby.

Evans played the role as it was originally written at the Sheffield Crucible two years ago.

As for the girlfriends, the character of Joanne – originally played by Elaine Stritch in the Broadway premiere – has been taken by Alan Cumming, with Ugly Betty's Michael Urie and Tony nominee Bobby Steggert also in the cast.

The workshop will result in an in-house performance on Friday, after which New York's Roundabout Theatre Company will make a decision about a possible future production.

There have long been suggestions that Sondheim and his late book writer George Furth intended Bobby to be read as a closeted homosexual, on the basis of his lack of commitment next to his married friends.

Sondheim told the New York Times he has been "rewriting lyrics here and there and rewriting some of the dialogue, though as little as possible since George isn't around".

He added: "It's still a musical about commitment, but marriage is seen as something very different in 2013 than it was in 1970. We don't deal with gay marriage as such, but this version lets us explore the issues of commitment in a fresh way."

Tiffany, who became an associate director at the Royal Court earlier this year, has just opened a production of The Glass Menagerie on Broadway to critical acclaim.

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