Broadway’s touring ‘Company’ lead talks relationships, gender-bending role and Sondheim music

We all have those friends who are way too comfortable sharing their opinion on how well, or not well, they think you’re doing for yourself. The friends that make you grimace a little as you grin while thinking “They mean well.”

Bobbie, the lead character in Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” has a lot of those friends. While they care for her and are excited to celebrate her 35th birthday, they’re also not ashamed of pestering her about when she’ll settle down and have children.

In “Company,” Bobbie (Britney Coleman) spends her birthday with a group of her friends, all of whom are married or engaged. From one vignette to the next, Bobbie sees both the pros and cons of being in a relationship.

First, Bobbie spends time with Sarah (Jessie Hooker-Bailey), a foodie, and her husband Harry (James Earl Jones II), a recovering alcoholic, who are constantly getting annoyed with each other because of their various vices.

Bobbie then meets with Ivy League grad Peter (Javier Ignacio) and Susan (Elysia Jordan, who also plays the priest), a Southern Belle, a “perfect couple” who surprise Bobbie with news that they’re getting a divorce.

Later, Bobbie smokes weed with the uptight Jenny (Emma Stratton) and chic David (Matt Bittner), who ask Bobbie why she isn’t married. Before Bobbie can finish telling them she isn’t opposed to the idea, three men she’s dating – Andy (Jacob Dickey), PJ (Alexander Ríos) and Theo (David Socolar) – appear and chastise her for her lack of commitment.

After spending time individually with each boyfriend, Bobbie and the rest of her friends get ready for Paul (Jhardon Dishon Milton) and Jamie’s (Matt Rodin) wedding, which comes after the couple has lived together for years.

At the start of Act 2, the birthday party resets, with Bobbie getting another look at the relationships she is surrounded by, including that of Joanne (Judy McLane) and Larry (Derrick Davis), who take Bobbie to a nightclub.

By the end of the show, Bobbie comes to realize what it is she really wants for her future.

This gender-swapped version of “Company,” which opened on the West End in 2018 and on Broadway in 2021, changes Bobby, a male role, to Bobbie, a female role, and the character of Amy to Jamie.

“Company” features music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by George Furth. The musical runs Wednesday through Sept. 15 at the First Interstate Center for the Arts.

Coleman, who stars as Bobbie, saw the new version of “Company” in the West End while on vacation and loved the show.

“I saw a lot of things that I really resonated with and put a little bookmark in it in case it comes to New York, there are a couple things I could do with it,” she said. “There was no hesitation when the audition came in.”

That audition was for the Broadway revival, which was set to open on Sondheim’s 90th birthday: March 20, 2020. After just a handful of preview performances though, COVID forced all of Broadway to close.

More than a year later, in November 2021, the revival reopened, with Coleman understudying the role of Bobbie. The production won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and closed in July 2022 after 265 performances.

Just under a year after the Broadway production of “Company” closed, Coleman was back at the birthday party, this time starring as Bobbie.

“I’m really glad to have had the chance to tackle the role in my own way, rather than trying to fill someone else’s shoes,” she said. “Bobbie is one of those characters that actually isn’t written with a heavy hand, so it really is dependent on what the actor brings to it. I was able to choose more joy in this one.”

In a fun connection to the material, Coleman turned 35 during the tour.

While Coleman said the revival highlights that 35-year-olds today are very different than 35-year-olds in 1970, when the original production opened, she said the musical’s writing is not inherently masculine, which lends itself well to the character of Bobby becoming Bobbie and Amy becoming Jamie.

“There’s one scene in which Bobbie is trying to explain ‘Hey, I haven’t settled down yet because I have a lot of other things to accomplish, like getting started with my job and school, and I wanted to have a little fun before settling down,’ ” she said. “I think that’s a human experience, but it is interesting to hear it today where I think a lot of us are in the same boat.”

Coleman said “Company” is a Sondheim piece that doesn’t often get produced at this level, which she calls unfortunate because of how easy it is for audiences to find something in common with at least one character in the show, whether they are single, married, divorced or on the fence about relationships as a whole.

“I realize now doing the show, it is about Bobbie but it’s really about everyone else,” she said. “The writing is so brilliant in that way of each person has one scene to show all of their true colors, and the characters are written really, really dynamically. Some of the characters have really unconventional attitudes towards marriage that still seem taboo today, like there’s a couple that’s thrilled about getting divorced. Divorce is better for them. This show is a beautiful highlight of that. If you don’t see yourself in Bobbie, you definitely see yourself in her friends. For a show that’s this old, a lot of the stuff really, really resonates.”