About the Program

Premiere Date: November 8, 2013 

Legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical Company — which premiered in 1970 with a book by George Furth and a cast including Broadway luminaries Dean Jones, Elaine Stritch and Donna McKechnie — has continually acquired generations of new fans through various regional productions and its 1995 and 2006 Broadway revivals. Centering on Bobby, a bachelor celebrating his 35th birthday with his ten closest friends (who happen to be five couples), Company culminates in Bobby’s transformation from unattached swinger to tentative monogamist.

This New York Philharmonic gala concert production starring Neil Patrick Harris as Bobby and directed by Sondheim veteran Lonny Price, won rave reviews. Harris’ co-stars include Patti LuPone, Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”), Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), Jon Cryer and Martha Plimpton, who perform the show’s many standards including “Another Hundred People,” “Barcelona,” “Side by Side,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” and “Being Alive.” Also starring Craig Bierko, Katie Finneran, Aaron Lazar, Jill Paice, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Jim Walton and Chryssie Whitehead.