PEORIA -- Corn Stock Theatre ends its 60th season with a real challenge, Stephen Sondheim's musical comedy, Company. It runs through August 31, and is well worth seeing.
Sondheim is an acquired taste. He writes music and lyrics with an edge. (Swenney Todd, Assassins.) Company has many of his best songs, with lyrics, dissonance and key changes that pose a challenge to many professional singers. Likewise, the play itself requires timing and comedic "chops."
Finding local performers who can sing, dance, act and also have the comedic skills needed must have posed a challenge to the Corn Stock staff, but they succeeded. Many of the local amateurs in the cast display near-professional talent.
The intimacy of the tent draws the audience into the play, and by the end, the lack of Broadway perfection is forgotten. Most of the actors are appealing performers who smoothly persuade the audience to suspend disbelief and lose themselves in the story and music.
The huge cast of 20 is amazingly diverse in age and looks. Todd Michael Cook, an experienced actor and dancer, a Peoria native who has lived in New York City, plays Robert, the lead character. He sings, dances and acts well.
Cheri Beever, who has played in many local productions, does a fine job of playing Joanne, whose song "The Ladies Who Lunch" is brilliantly done. Elaine Stritch played the role on Broadway.
The other cast members are also interesting, and many of them have solo roles.
The play itself is brilliant: witty, clever, with some delightfully now obscure allusions (Krafft-Ebing!). It opened in 1970, and has won many awards. A DVD of a 2006 Broadway revival is available on Netflix.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Update 8/25/13: After thinking about the play overnight, I realized that some small but important touches could have made the event better. A play is a composite of many aspects, and all must work for maximum effectiveness.
- Costumes: Uninspired, could have been much, much more effective.
- Sound: Sometimes a bit loud, no modulation for emphasis. (Is this the fault of the intrusive microphones? The actors needed the small mikes often seen now in stage and TV productions.
I'm looking forward to seeing Company on DVD performed by a Broadway cast.
- - E.H.
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