Hannah Foote
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

The Department of Global Languages and Theatre Arts will perform the musical comedy, “Company,” this weekend starting Thursday night in the Robert E. Johnson Theatre on campus.

Associate Professor of Theatre Daryl Phillipy is directing the show. Aside from “Company,” Phillipy also directed “The Importance of Being Earnest” during the Fall 2021 semester.

“Company” is a joint production with the music department. Associate Professor of music Maribeth Crawford is serving as musical director for the show.

Phillipy said the approach of this production will focus on themes of isolation.

“It’s really about people being lonely and being isolated,” Phillipy said “How do we reach out, share our lives and engage with life, with other people, realizing that it’s not all going to be happy? We are going to have moments in our lives and our relationships of struggle, and it’s nice to be able to have someone that can hug you and hurt you at the same time.”

“Company” is a romantic musical comedy, and it contains elements of a dark comedy. The plot follows Robert, a 35-year-old, unmarried man, in New York City as his friends offer up romantic advice and try to set him up on dates.

Robert sees the flaws in each of his friends’ relationships, and the show is arranged with funny scenes featuring the chaos of their marriages.

The show features songs such as “Getting Married Today” and “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which balance comedy with hard emotional truths and adult themes. In the end, Robert must confront his fear of commitment and reclaim “Being Alive,” which is the name of a pivotal song in the show.

The music and lyrics of “Company” were written by the late Stephen Sondheim, who died in November 2021. Sondheim was known for being one of the greatest American theatre composers. He worked on many successful musicals over his career, such as “Gypsy,” “Into the Woods” and “West Side Story.” Murray State’s production will be a tribute to him.

“It’s been a real honor to work on a Stephen Sondheim production in memoriam, dedicating this production to his memory,” Phillipy said.

Phillipy said, “Company” was one of Sondheim’s first successes for which he had written both music and lyrics himself.

The subject matter and style of the musical were groundbreaking when it was released. “Company” was nominated for 12 Tony Awards during its 1971 production, and won six  of them, According to Internet Broadway Database.

“I think now particularly with COVID over the last two years, and oftentimes people having class on Zoom … in general, the population of the students on campus, and across the world really, have been feeling isolated. They don’t necessarily have someone they can reach out and touch … [“Company”] touches on that notion of being isolated and how painful that can be … ” Phillipy said.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m., except for the 2:30 p.m. performance on Sunday.

Students get in free with their Student ID, and general admission is $20.