Bobbie is the 35-year-old protagonist of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Company.” Britney Coleman is the 35-year-old actor who plays Bobbie.
“It feels validating in a way,” Coleman told the Herald. “I never have to think, ‘How would a 35-year-old feel about x, y, and z,’ because I’m pulling from personal experience.”
“Company,” which plays April 2 – 14 at Citizens Opera House, revolves around Bobbie’s birthday party and her friends’ endless questions about her finding a partner and settling down. Nearly plotless, the action in the musical comedy unfolds as the couples she’s friends with play out vignettes while Bobbie tries to make sense of modern marriage, bachelorhood, and life.
“I resonate a lot with how Bobbie presents in social situations because, in every scene, the moments she is having with these couples aren’t centered on ‘just another day at the office,’ ” Coleman said. “There is something unique that’s happening with each couple. Like, the first scene, with Harry and Sarah, all the sudden has them doing jiu-jitsu in the living room.”
“Bobbie has to be supportive of what’s going on with her friends, and has to keep cool and calm on the surface,” she continued. “You see that a lot and it allows Bobbie to eventually interpret everything, digest everything, through her own songs.”
In Sondheim and Furth’s original 1970 production, Bobbie was Robert — and the show was a smash, nominated for a record-setting 14 Tonys, winning six. This revival, also a hit and Tony winner, switches the gender of the protagonist and a few other characters. Actors and audiences have found the changes pull the piece forward into today.
“Looking at that original material, there’s nothing obtusely masculine in George Furth’s writing,” Coleman said. “That’s why it lends itself to having genders swapped so easily… I’ve done quite a few revivals and the ones that have a fresh take and perspective and still does the material justice have been more successful.”
Sondheim himself loved the changes to reflect the contemporary. Before he died in 2021, Sondheim worked with director Marianne Elliott around the revival’s revisions.
“He was around a little bit in New York and we got to see him and he told us ‘Thank you,’ so many times and I thought, ‘What? We should be thanking you,’” Coleman said. “With Sondheim, he writes about the full human experience. I love how he asks questions of the audience, especially in ‘Company.’ It makes ‘Company’ very malleable.”
Coleman loves spending so much time with Bobbie. And she does spend a lot of time with the character — Bobbie leaves the stage for only a flash during the duration of the show. The character also gets whole songs, long moments in the spotlight, to herself.
“It’s me fully alone on stage, no set, and I get to just assess what is happening,” she said of those songs with a laugh. “Touring, these theaters are so much bigger than what we did on Broadway, twice as big. The first thing I thought of was that I’m going to have some very, very vulnerable moments on stage fully alone, so alone in front of so many people. It’s a little daunting, a little terrifying, but it’s certainly a dream.”
For tickets and details, visit boston.broadway.com