#1090: PENNEBAKER, D.A.: Original Cast Album: "Company" (1970)

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PENNEBAKER, D.A. (United States)
Original Cast Album: "Company" (1970)
Spine #1090
Blu-ray


This holy grail for both documentary and theater aficionados offers a tantalizingly rare glimpse behind the Broadway curtain. In 1970, right after the triumphant premier of Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking concept musical Company, the renowned composer and lyricist, his director Harold Prince, the show's stars, and a large pit orchestra all went into a Manhattan recording studio as part of a time-honored Broadway tradition: the recording of the original cast album. What ensued was a marathon session in which, with the pressures of posterity and the coolly exacting Sondheim's perfectionism hanging over them, all involved pushed themselves to the limit -- including theater legend Elaine Stritch, who fought anxiety and exhaustion to record her iconic rendition of "The Ladies Who Lunch." With thrilling immediacy, legendary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker offers an up-close view of the larger-than-life personalities, frayed-nerve energy, and explosive creative intensity that go into capturing the magic of live performance.

53 minutes
Color
Monaural
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2021
Director


D.A. Pennebaker was 45 when he directed Original Cast Album: "Company."

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by author Mark Harris.

Commentary
  1. By composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim; and
  2. From 2001, featuring director Pennebaker, actor Stritch, and Broadway producer and director Harold Prince.
Conversation

Among Sondheim, orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, and critic and television producer Frank Rich.

Interview

With Tunick on the art of orchestrating, conducted by author Ted Chapin.

Never-before-heard

Audio excerpts from interviews with Stritch and Prince, conducted by Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus in 2001.

Original Cast Album: Co-Op

A 2019 episode of the TV series Documentary Now! that parodies the film.

Reunion

Of the cast and crew of Original Cast Album: Co-Op, recorded in 2020, featuring director Alexander Buono; writer-actor John Mulaney; actors Renée Elise Goldsberry, Richard Kind, Alex Brightman, and Paula Pell; and composer Eli Bolin.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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