{"id":33416,"date":"2019-10-04T03:49:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T10:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33416"},"modified":"2019-10-02T15:58:15","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T22:58:15","slug":"its-bobbys-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/10\/04\/its-bobbys-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Bobby\u2019s birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Winsby plays birthday boy Robert in Company<\/em>, which opens Oct. 11. (photo by Nicol Spinola)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

For his 35th birthday, Robert (Bobby), a bachelor, has invited a group of his married friends over to celebrate. And, married or not, you can be a part of Bobby\u2019s party by attending Raincity Theatre\u2019s production of Company<\/em>, which runs Oct. 11-26 at \u201cBobby\u2019s Apartment,\u201d 2531 Ontario St.<\/p>\n

The immersive production of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Company<\/em> is being produced by the same creative team that was behind last fall\u2019s award-winning immersive production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street<\/em>. Co-producers are Chris Adams (director), Nicol Spinola (choreographer) and Jewish community member Kat Palmer. Also part of the Company<\/em> creative team was researcher Michael Groberman. And there are other Jewish connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is only notated in the script that Paul, Amy\u2019s fianc\u00e9, is Jewish,\u201d Adams told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cHowever, it is mentioned that half of Amy\u2019s friends are Jewish, meaning a few other characters probably are, too \u2013 most notably, Larry, played by Jewish community member Warren Kimmel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larry is Joanne\u2019s third husband. Joanne has known Robert for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarry is extremely wealthy and successful,\u201d said Kimmel. \u201cHe is probably the oldest character in the play. His parents split when he was a child but he is fascinated by his wife and very happily married.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just now old enough to play the character, Kimmel quipped, \u201cI intend to make him look younger than his real age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Company<\/em> debuted in 1970.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis piece is all about commitment and partnership and marriage,\u201d said Kimmel. \u201cIt was written not long after the pill was invented, which, along with other cultural changes, threw into question traditional ideas around marriage, monogamy and the way men and women in society commit to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cAs is usually the case, Sondheim and his collaborators have created perhaps the most incisive examination of these issues and so they resonate even today. Every song is so specific and true to life that everyone can identify and, if you haven\u2019t had these exact thoughts yourself, you will definitely have a friend or family member who is in just such a situation. Add to that the incredible music and one hell of a cast and what you have from Raincity is another \u2018must see\u2019 piece of theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Raincity\u2019s choice to produce Company<\/em>, Adams said, \u201cOftentimes, as it goes with equity collectives, it is a group of people who find a great show and want to see it produced. In this case, not only did I know the show was great, I knew we had Jonathan Winsby to play Bobby. Having worked with Jonathan on last year\u2019s Sweeney Todd<\/em>, I knew he was more than up for the challenge of this role and I knew it was on his bucket list to play. Sondheim is popular with actor\/singers because it is difficult. People want to sing it and audiences seem to want to hear it. We are blessed as well that Company<\/em> comes with such a strong book and brilliant songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with Sweeney Todd<\/em>, the audience will be in the thick of things, specifically, in the midst of Bobby\u2019s birthday party. \u201cWe have a bar set up to sell drinks, you can purchase birthday cake or come early and play a song on the piano \u2013 everything a fun 1969 birthday party should have,\u201d said Adams. \u201cThe audience will grab their purchased seating \u2013 you can buy a pillow\/floor seat, a couch, a chair or a bar stool \u2013 and cozy up to enjoy the show. While there is, obviously, no audience participation, they will feel very much included in the festivities and witness this brilliant journey of a man struggling through his 35th year.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is limited seating at the party, however, and Adams said the run is already more than 80% sold out. \u201cIf anyone is wanting tickets,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019d suggest they don\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets, visit raincitytheatre.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Winsby plays birthday boy Robert in Company, which opens Oct. 11. (photo by Nicol Spinola) For his 35th birthday, Robert (Bobby), a bachelor, has invited a group of his married friends over to celebrate. And, married or not, you can be a part of Bobby\u2019s party by attending Raincity Theatre\u2019s production of Company, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[9357,9358,7028,6208,1699],"class_list":["post-33416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-chris-adams","tag-raincity","tag-sondheim","tag-theatre","tag-warren-kimmel"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}