Company : original cast album / Janus Films ; Pennebaker Associates Inc. presents ; Harold Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell presents ; music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim ; produced by Chester Feldman, Judy Crichton ; a film by D.A. Pennebaker, Leacock Pennebaker Inc. ; Talent Associates-Norton Simon Inc. in association with Castle Drive Productions.
Edition:
Blu-ray special edition.
Publisher:
The Criterion Collection,
Copyright Date:
2021
Description:
1 videodisc (53 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 insert (12 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 17 x 70 cm, folded to 12 x 17 cm)
Featuring: Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, George Furth, Thomas Z. Shepard, Dean Jones, Elaine Stritch, Barbara Barrie, George Coe, John Cunningham, Teri Ralston, Charles Kimbrough, Donna McKechnie, Charles Braswell, Susan Browning, Steve Elmore, Beth Howland, Pamela Myers, Merle Louise ; conductor, Harold Hastings. Title and credits from screen. Originally released as a documentary film in 1970. Accompanying insert (12 unnumbered pages : color illustrations; 17 x 690 cm, folded to 17 x12 cm) comprises full credits and essay by journalist and film historian Mark Harris. Special features: New audio commentary by composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim; audio commentary featuring director D.A. Pennebaker, actor Elaine Stritch, and Broadway producer and director, Harold Prince (2001); Side by side, a new conversation among Sondheim, orchestrator Jonathan Tunick, and critic and television producer Frank Rich; new 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 D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus (2001); Original cast album : Co-Op (2019 episode of the TV series Documentary now! that parodies the film); reunion of the cast and crew of Original cast album : Co-Op (2020), featuring director Alexander Buono, writer-actor John Mulaney, composer Eli Bolin, and actors ReneĢe Elise Goldsberry, Richard Kind, Alex Brightman and Paula Pell.
Summary:
"This holy grail for both documentary and theater aficionados offers a tantalizingly rare glimpse behind the Broadway curtain. In 1970, right after the triumphant premiere 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 making 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"--Container
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.